Fireworks - a Fred Weasley Story
by Riddler243
Summary: The story will be written in second person as personally I find it more interactive for the audience when reading and makes them feel more involved :) Well, here is the first chapter!
1. Chapter 1

"Have you got everything, Fiona?" asked Ginny, your best friend. Even though she was a year below you, you spent most of your spare time with her, getting into all sorts of mischief, purposely sometimes, but mainly you two just liked to hang out.

"I should think so," you nodded, your other things that you needed were being sent off to Ginny's house already for you. "if not then I can always send an owl to my mother."

"Ok, I can't wait! Mum has been asking about you for ages; asking what you looked liked, whether or not you're ok, or even if you are well and healthy! Bit strange really, but that's family for you. You've already met Percy, haven't you?" you nodded as you walked with her down the train, edging your way out through the narrow gaps.

"Yeah, he helped me find my way when I was in my first year." Ginny had invited you to stay over for the weekend during the holidays, wanting to spend as much time with her best friend as possible. It took you both ages to worm your way through the tight squeeze of the train corridor, trying not to lose each other among the large crowds of students making their way off of the train.

"Look!" Ginny pointed around you towards the platform. There stood wearing a day hat and a warm smile was her mother, waiting patiently for you two and the others. Ginny quickly ran up to her mother and hugged her tightly in greeting. "Hi mum! This is Fiona." she said with a wave of her hand. You smiled kindly in greeting and held your hand out in greeting at the nice woman. Instead of shaking your hand, she pulled you in for a warm hug.

"Hello, Fiona! I'm more of a huggy sort of person unfortunately." she laughed, although you didn't mind at all.

"Nice to meet you Mrs Weasley,"

"Oh, call me Molly!" she patted your shoulder kindly with one of the most welcoming smiles spread across her face than you've ever seen before. "I'm afraid we're going to have to wait for Ron and Harry too, if Ron doesn't lose that rat of his all the time then we might have more time- oh! There you are!" There walking over to the three of you were Harry and Ron accompanied by a stern-faced looking Percy, shoving his little brother to hurry him along.

"Heya, Fiona!" Harry greeted, as did Ron. Percy just nodded with some sort of smile.

"Hi, guys." you returned with a smile.

"No Fred or George?" asked Ron once he had finished his mouthful of liquorice wand.

"Well if you remembered, Fred and George went home a little early due to their last incident with Professor Snape. When will those two ever learn that it is NOT ok to make the Professor's cape set fire!" Mrs Weasley ranted as you all began to walk. You were already really good friends with Harry and Ron, and was considered a friend by Percy, even though he always had a face like thunder these days. Hermione was another good friend of yours, in fact, she was your second best friend.

"Remind me to write that one down when we get there," you whispered to Harry, who nodded eagerly back.

"Yeah, I bet that will be good a second time round!"

"If it's pranks you want to pull, then just talk to my brothers-"

"Which we _won't _if we don't get a move on, now hurry up Ron before I personally drag you there!" scolded Mrs Weasley. Ron swished his head back down, watching his shuffling feet as he followed the crowd. Not long later, you all arrived at the Weasley's home an hour or two before dinner time. Percy waltzed on ahead to open the door, being to 'goody goody' he is, proudly puffing out his chest to show off his shining prefect badge. Ron rolled his eyes at his brother's action, tutting also. You were the last to enter the creative house and shut the door behind you, hearing peoples footsteps wander off into different directions as you turned back round to see the happy face of your best friend.

"So what shall we-" But Ginny was soon quickly interrupted by the sound of cheering laughter that sounded so alike it was uncanny. The sound of their laughter grew louder and louder the closer they got. You turned in curiosity in the direction of which it came, accompanied by the huff of an annoyed Ginny.

"Wa-heyyyy!" they cheered a long cheer as two identical twins came sliding down the swirly staircase banister, side by side and attempting to shove one another off their perch as they speedily slid down the slippery wood. Once they got nearer to the ground, they jumped off the edge and landed on their grey sock covered feet onto the ground with a loud thud, causing some ornaments in the room to rattle a little. They both stopped laughing when they discovered the new face staring back at them with just as much curiosity as they had. They took a few steps forward and both said in synchronisation.

"'Ello 'ello, who's this then?" they both bent down forwards a little as if to examine your face, a huge cheeky grin swept across their faces as they began to speak.

"This, my dear brother, must be the friend our little sister was talking about so often!" said one twin to the other.

"Ah, yes," began the second to the right. "indeed it is my good man!"

"A second year!" they both chimed together with a nod, as if agreeing that you were automatically a nice person in their eyes.

"Have we seen you before?" asked the twin on the left, pointing down at you.

"Don't point, it's rude!" said the other.

"Oh, right, do forgive me my lady!" he apologized in a posh sort of way which made you giggle. "And to answer your question dear brother of mine, yes, we have seen her before for she is in our house, am I correct?" you nodded with a slightly embarrassed smile. "Aha! I knew I saw this face before!"

"Well of course, she's a Gryffindor nitwit!" laughed the twin on the right again.

"Guys, seriously!" Ginny huffed, covering her ears with her hands because all this confusing speech was giving her a headache. The two very tall red heads laughed.

"We do apologise, dear sister," said the twin on the right.

"Yes, indeed!" said the left twin with a mocking look in his eye.

"Seriously!" she huffed again in annoyance.

"Apologies!" they both said in time with each other, both of them raising up their hands briefly before flapping them back down to their sides.

"Aren't you going to introduce us, little sis?" said the right twin, who had a matching grin to his brother. Ginny sighed as she pointed correctly to the right twin, although slightly uncertain.

"Fiona, this is Fred," she points over to the left twin. "and this is George." she finishes with a point over to the twin on the right.

"I'm George." said the left twin.

"And _I'm _Fred." said the right twin mischievously.

"No, you're not!" Ginny whined as she slapped her forehead with the palm of her hand, not wanting to go over this dilemma AGAIN. "YOU'RE Fred," she prodded the left twin firmly in the chest as she spoke. "and YOU'RE George!" she finishes by prodding the right twin in the chest as well, clearly frustrated with the whole 'pretend to be the other twin' thing. The two twins looked at each other and laughed, speaking in the exact same time again.

"Guilty!" they grinned. You laughed at their little joke and the look on Ginny's face, trying to hide it as soon as Ginny whipped her head round to face you.

"They'll always try to confuse you. Even mum still has trouble trying to tell them apart, I call them the terrible twins. It's easy enough."

"Oh, come on sis, that's a bit mean now, isn't it?" George said with a little mocking pout, which annoyed Ginny even more.

"What about," you began "the terrible troublemaker twins instead?" you said jokingly. But Fred and George looked at each other and nodded, grinning.

"Sweet."

"Alright, alright, let's go before they transform _you _into a prankster like them." Ginny said as she tugged on your arm.

"Now that's a good idea..." said Fred with a long hum, scratching his chin while putting on a mocking face of thought. You giggled.

"No, no, no!" Ginny whined, taking it seriously and not realising that Fred was actually joking.

"See you later then, Fiona!" waved Fred with a smile, which George also did. You smiled and also waved back to them, having Ginny drag you away from the troublesome two.

"Gosh, those two!" she huffed annoyingly.

"They're alright, seem like fun." you said with a smile.

"But honestly though, they will always try and trick you. Whether it is a prank or just making you believe that they are the other twin."

"I think I'll manage." you smiled. That's another one of your talents, you could tell twins apart like a cat from a rat. And with that, you and Ginny spent the rest of the night gossiping and her lecturing you about what the twins are capable of, things which you could not wait to see for yourself.


	2. Fireworks - a Fred Weasley Story, 2

The night swiftly past and you and Ginny were absolutely knackered from staying up late last night from talking and playing games. She groaned lazily as she rolled over in her bed, obviously not wanting to get up so early. Even though you felt knackered at first when you woke up, it only took a few minutes for you to feel fully wide awake. You lay there, staring up at the ceiling as you think over your thoughts over and over again. It was only 8:30am, but the Weasley family do like a long snooze in the morning when they get the chance to. You could hear Ginny begin to snore lightly again, gradually getting a little louder. You smiled and shook your head at how sweet this strangely was. You checked the clock again, 8:32am. You rolled your eyes with a silent tut and clamped your hands over your face, slowly bringing them down off your face in a sliding motion. You suddenly felt a tickling at your feet. Curiously, you sat up a little to see what this was. To your surprise, Ron's rat was sat there, staring right at you. You jumped a little, but not enough to make you make a noise.

"You alright there?" you smiled at its flickering whiskers as you sat upright fully. You reached a hand out to the little tatty creature but it then fled from you, its little feet scurried across the floor.

"Scabbers!" you whispered loudly. "Scabbers, get back here!" Quickly, you slid out of your bed and slipped on your dark plum coloured dressing gown around you as you began to chase after the fleeing rat. You sped after the rat as fast and as quietly as you could, not wanting to wake anyone. The rat stopped and looked at you, sitting at the top of the very long spiral staircase. "I've got you now!" you breathed quietly to yourself, grinning at the rat, enjoying this little game of chase.

The scruffy brown rat just squeaked and twitched its whiskers at you before jumping down each and every step. You groaned to yourself. _Why does Ron's bloody rat have to be like this?! _You thought to yourself in annoyance. With a huff, you began to chase after that annoying rat again. Swiftly you tried to tip-toe down each of the steps without making them squeak or make any noise at all for that matter. You began to gain on him, the little scoundrel. Your hopes also began to build as you gradually came to the end of the never ending staircase, a small grin of possible success grew upon your face. With one last leap, you scooped up the mischievous rat up into your hands, cupping him securely so that he wouldn't get away again. "Gottcha!"

"Morning." a voice said from the opposite end of the room, near to the kitchen. You jumped a little, not expecting the greeting at all. You turned round curiously to see who it was, and there, stood up against the kitchen dining table was one of the tall twins, sipping at his cup of tea.

"Oh," you blinked "morning."

"Playing a little game, are we?" he asked with a grin and a wink, mischief just gleaming in his eyes. You looked down at the lazy rat that lay in your hands, seeing its whiskers twitch again.

"He tickled me this morning, woke me up. Then he ran off, random little thing Scabbers. Does he always run off?"

"Scabbers? Yeah, usually. He's been in the family for years now, getting a bit old, I reckon." he gulped down some more of his tea. "I wanted to change him into a pair of slippers for dad, but Ron caught me." you snorted and shook your head.

"You're weird, Fred."

"I'm George." You stood there on the spot and shook your head as you examined him briefly from where you were standing.

"No you're not."

"Ah, how can you be so sure, love?" asked the twin, grinning as he rose his eyebrows. You mirrored his actions.

"Because I have a knack for telling twins apart, _Fred._"

"Oh, do you now, _Fiona?_" he asked, clanking his empty mug of tea accidentally too loud in the sink as he started to walk over to you.

"Indeed, _Fred_, I do."

"I had a weird dream last night that we were married." he said randomly.

"Well, I- wait, what?!" you said in surprise, realising how strange this tall red-head was.

"Strange, right?" he grinned. "Still, it was ok I guess." you stared at him, a little bit creeped out by how open he actually was.

"...Right." Silence fell between the two of you and Fred made a popping sound with his mouth.

"So, er... wanna play chess?" he asked kind of sweetly, pointing his thumb behind him to a guesstimate place to where the chess set was in the living room.

"No thanks, I'm not that good." you said honestly, a little embarrassed as you looked up at the towering boy.

"I could teach you how to play, if you want. Or we could do something else? The others wont be up for ages yet, lazy bunch." he hummed with a smile. But before your open mouth could speak, he interrupted. "Oh! What about Quidditch? You any good?"

"I don't know, the teacher says that I am, but I don't really play it." you said, not noticing that Scabbers was yet again making another dash for it and scurried away out of the room, leaving the two of you alone.

"Aw, come on! You must be good then! Fancy a game?"

"Don't you think that we're a couple players too short?"

"...Oh yeah." he said a little dumbly, due to his slight tiredness. "What do you want to do then? Like I said, the others wont be up for ages and I get bored very easily, as you can tell from why me and George got sent home early." you giggled a little and he shrugged, showing his fake guilt. "so, what do you want to do? Lady's choice, of course." he said in a jokey charming voice, his cheeky grin growing rapidly.

"What position do you play in Quidditch?"

"Beater, and so is George."

"Huh,"

"Why? Wanna give it a go?" he asked enthusiastically, he loved Quidditch, but not as much as the Gryffindor's team captain, Oliver Wood. You nodded.

"Why not."

"Great!" he said cheerfully. "Will ten minutes be enough for you to get ready in? Seeing as you girls take FOREVER to get ready these days."

"Hey," you pouted, shoving him in the arm lightly. You weren't much of a girly girl as you were into your sports and often hung around with boys more than girls, except from Ginny and Hermione of course. Within the time Fred suggested you to get ready in, you came running down the stairs as quietly and as quickly as you could again. You decided to wear normal comfy clothes, dark navy jeans, a chequered shirt with different kinds of shades of blues and a white spaghetti strap top beneath it whilst on your feet you wore your pale blue converse. There stood in the living room, completely ready, was Fred, who smiled as you walked up to him.

"Ready to go then? We wont be long, don't want to worry poor old mother." he said in a childish voice which made you giggle. Basically, you were both just going to play bat and ball, but it passed the time. Anyway, it would help the two of you improve your skills. You both walked out into the fresh morning sun that gleamed brightly down upon the land beneath it, the slight cool breeze gently brushed passed you as you walked, cooling you down from the already growing temperature of the day. The two of you walked out to a place in the field where it was far enough not to break one of the windows, or break anything for the matter. The tall boy towered over you, taking after his father in the height department. He was two years older than you, but you weren't the shortest of people, but you weren't the tallest either, sort of in between, a height which you found reasonable but annoying when someone as tall as Fred stands next to you. You both played for a good while, taking it in turns to hit the ball and chase after it before it landed. After a good hour or so, you both decided to take a rest. You both sat down on the growing green grass and tucked in to a red apple each, munching away as you both stared up at the blue sky, invaded with puffs of white clouds that drifted ever so lazily across the bright blue sheet.

"Do you reckon," Fred began after finishing a mouthful of apple. "that I can sneak in some sort of puking potion into Snape's drink one day, when we return to Hogwarts?" he looked over at you as he waited for an answer, you tilted your head from side to side for a little bit before thinking of an answer.

"Good idea, but how would you sneak it in? There's no other way than just going up to Snape and saying 'Hi, try some of this. Oh wait, I forgot to tell you that it makes you vomit. Oops!'" Fred laughed and nodded also.

"Yeah, 'spose." he then began to think again and soon snapped his fingers together.

"What if, we turn his hair blue? I bet _that _would be a sight!"

"Yeah," you agreed. "or, what if you make him a red-head? That would teach him not to mess with the Weasley's." Fred laughed and thought for a brief second.

"Risky, I like it." he patted you on the shoulder, as if congratulating you for coming up with such an idea. "But wouldn't he guess that it was one of the Weasley's though, with the hair and all."

"Not if I did it." you grinned mischievously. Fred also grinned.

"You know, if you get involved with schemes like this, you most probably wont be able to become a prefect."

"Pft, why would you want to be a boring old prefect? This is way more fun."

"Finally, someone else who agrees with me other than George!" Fred sighed in cheer, taking another bite out of his apple. "But don't tell Percy that you don't want to be a prefect, he might disown you as a friend."

"Note taken."

"Go on, try out for the Quidditch team! You were really good at beating a moment ago." he said eagerly with a smile. You shook your head.

"No, I don't think that it's really my kind of thing. I enjoy it, yes. But I just don't want to become obsessed with it like Oliver." Fred opened his mouth to debate but you shook your head again.

"Alright, you two?" said George as he approached the two of you sat down on the grass, a grin spread widely across his face. "Getting a cheeky kiss or two, Fred?"

"Shut up, George." said Fred, throwing his apple core at his brother who only just about missed it. Literally a few seconds later, Ginny walked over, clearly having following her brother to the field to discover where everyone had gone.

"There you are! How long have you been out here?" she asked, now fully dressed.

"About an hour or two," Fred replied.

"Having a cheeky snog." George sniggered under his breath. Fred jumped up to his feet and began to chase after his twin, shouting after him as he retreated back towards the house. Ginny looked down at you with a questioning smile and risen eyebrows.

"I know what you're thinking, Ginny."

"Do you?" she asked with another smile. "Do you fancy my brother, Fiona?!"

"What? No!" you said honestly, a little surprised by her sudden outburst of question. How could you? You hardly knew him before yesterday. And now that you two spent a little time together, everyone thinks that you must like each other. "Ridiculous." you whispered under your breath before getting up to your feet and began to walk with your friend back to the house.


	3. Fireworks - a Fred Weasley Story, 3

Later on, nearing the beginning of your third year, you were told that everyone was meeting up at the Leaky Cauldron a couple of days before school started. You were said your goodbyes to your parents and they left, leaving you there with all the things that you needed and if there was anything else your required, just send them an owl. A strange man with a bad hunch took your bags up to your room which you were going to share with Ginny and Hermione for a day or two. Without realising that he was here already, Harry came rushing down the stairs to greet you.

"Fiona!" he said happily, hugging you.

"Hey, Harry!" you smiled, returning the hug. "I heard about the whole phone call incident with your uncle, I was going to phone you myself to ask how you were but Fred warned me in a letter that Ron had cheesed him off because he yelled down the phone. Did you get my letters though?"

"Oh, yeah. I don't really care much for them anyway, they don't for me."

"Did you really blow up-"

"Yeah, I did." he said a little smugly, as if he had been waiting for that moment for a long time. "So, when are the others getting here?"

"I don't know. Hermione should be here in a few hours, but the Weasley's might arrive tomorrow maybe, I'm not entirely sure."

"Have you got everything for school? Supplies and all that?"

"Er, no. Not entirely. I need to buy a new pet, my one died a few days ago." you said a little sadly, accompanied with a saddened smile.

"Oh no," Harry said apologetically. "What happened?"

"My fat cousin sat on it. He knew that the cat was there, he didn't like him much." you scowled a little, you _hated _your cousin with a burning passion. You couldn't wait until you were seventeen, because then you could 'practice' spells on him and return what he dishes out to you constantly.

"I know the feeling," you both laughed and decided to go shopping in Diagon Alley until there was a sign of the others arriving. You both bought a strawberry ice cream each, covered in thick chocolate sauce and crumbled up hazelnuts scattered across the sticky treat. You both licked away as you explored the crowded thin cobbled street, witches and wizards bustling through in and out of shops as they hurried to get the things that they needed.

"Have you got all of your books then?" Harry asked with a lick of his ice cream. You nodded as you both finished off your treats.

"I bought them a few days ago with mum and dad, all I have to get is some new school shoes and a pet. Although, I'm not sure what type to get."

"Get a dragon," said a voice behind you.

"They're one of the best creatures!" said the other familiar voice.

"Or get a rat, but what good are they?"

"Bit boring really."

"Yeah, they are." you and Harry turned round to see the two tall twins behind you with huge smiles across their face.

"Fred, George! I thought you guys weren't coming back until tomorrow?" you asked with a bright smile, happy to see them.

"We were on time, for once. Weren't we, Fred?"

"Yes, George." agreed Fred. Even though they were away on holiday to Egypt, they still had there freckles on their cheeks and their fiery red hair seemed to be even redder.

"How was Egypt?" Harry asked.

"Brilliant," they both said together.

"Although," added Fred. "our attempt to lock Percy up in one of the pyramids failed, having mum catch us." you giggled at him trying to act all funny, even though he already was. "Anyway, I heard that you were looking for a new pet?" you nodded in response. "What animal?"

"I have no idea." you snorted, smiling.

"Do you want some help? I don't think that you would want to get a rat, would you?"

"Depends on what kind of rat, really." you said with a shrug and a smile.

"Oh, by the way, Harry, little Ronniekins is looking for you." George interrupted.

"Shall we go there now?" he asked.

"Up to you guys," George said with a 'I'll go with the flow' expression.

"Right," said Fred, taking control like he usually does sometimes. "I'll help Fi-Fi get a new pet whilst you and Harry go see Ronniekins and the others, ok?" All three of you nodded in agreement.

"Alright, see you two later then." Harry smiled, walking away with George back to the Leaky Cauldron. Once they got inside, Harry was greeted by the Weasley's and Hermione, who had just arrived too. After some hugs and hellos, Ginny noticed that two people were missing.

"Where's Fred and Fiona?"

"Oh, Fred is helping Fiona find a new pet. Seeing as hers died a few days ago by her fat cousin sitting on it." said George. Ginny scowled.

"Hey, did you read the letter she sent me?!"

"What, no." George grinned. "It was in the letter that she sent to me and Fred."

"Oh," said Ginny, going a little pink in the cheeks. "alright."

"Fred seems to like helping out a lot more recently," began a smart looking Percy, polishing his new head boy badge proudly with a clean white hankie.

"Oh, he's just being friendly!" said Mrs Weasley with a chuckle, patting her proud son's arm. She then wandered off to go talk to Ron, Harry and Mr Weasley about something whilst Ginny whispered quietly to Hermione.

"Psst, Hermione," Hermione looked over to her with a curious look. "do you want to go spy on them?"

"Spy on Fred and Fiona?" she repeated, she looked as if she was going to tell Ginny off for being so intruding but then grinned widely. "Ok." The two of them giggled and scurried off away and out of the building in search for you two. You and Fred were wandering slowly through the smelly animal crowded shop, seeking a pet that would be most suited to you. There were the common animals such as cats, rats, owls, toads and all that. You decided that you weren't going to get a toad, having being put off by Neville's constant runaway toad.

"So," Fred began, staying close to you so that you don't lose each other in the thickening crowd. "how about a rat- wait, you said that you didn't want a rat, did you?"

"Not particularly." you admitted with a shake of your head.

"Ok," he pondered, examining the staring eyes of the animals that watched him, some of them hissing right towards him. He jumped back a little at the grumpy looking black cat. "cheer up kitty cat." he mumbled, giving it a slight glare as he walked back over to where you were.

"I'm thinking about getting a cat, possibly." you thought as you looked at the several adorable cats with huge colourful eyes that seemed to beg you to take them away. "Or a rabbit, I can't decide!" you groaned, slapping your forehead a little too hard from the frustration of choosing a pet. "A cat," you said as you slid your hand off of your head and let it flop down to your side. "I think that I'll get a cat."

"What colour?" Fred asked with a smiled, laughing at the upside down toad that was trying to get back onto its feet.

"I don't mind."

"Oh! I know, wait here!" Fred said with risen hands, quickly walking off to a part of the shop were the cats were, hoping that the one he saw was still there. After a minute or two later, he returned holding a young fluffy ginger cat which had orange-brown eyes and a peachy nose. Its little paws were just as fluffy as its coat and its whiskers were just as soft as its orange fur. You awed at the cat he held with a smile that spread widely across your face. Fred smiled back as you petted the cat's little ears gently.

"He's perfect!" you awed, stroking it lovingly as Fred kept a hold of the cat.

"Its got the same hair colour as me too, so when you look at him, you'll think of me!" Fred said cheerfully, glad that he had made the right choice. "Except, I'm better looking." he joked, making you laugh. You paid for the cat and Fred handed him over to you. You cuddled the little cat in your arms lovingly with a growing smile, pleased. Fred had chosen a cat that might have slipped your glance, one where was even better than you had hoped for. You both then walked out of the shop. It was beginning to grow darker as the sun set further, so you both decided to get back to the Leaky Cauldron before Mrs Weasley has a fit about you two staying out for too long. She wouldn't have had a go at you, but would most probably put the blame on Fred.

"Thanks, Fred." you said kindly as the cat purred, curling up in your arms as you carried it.

"You're welcome," he said with a smile, stroking the cat's ear briefly. "so, what're you going to call him?" You then went quiet in thought, you haven't decided on a name yet.

"Er... I have no idea." you chuckled in slight embarrassment, trying not to let your cheeks go red in colour.

"How about," Fred began, trying to come up with a name but then grinned. "Freddy?" You laughed at his suggestion but then nodded, thinking that it did actually suit the cat perfectly.

"Freddy it is then." You both walked into the Leaky Cauldron just in time, the plump Mrs Weasley was telling off Ron for losing his rat medicine, again.

"Have a nice snog, you two?" George asked mischievously, grinning from ear to ear.

"I helped her find a pet, twit." Fred laughed, getting his twin brother in a head lock and giving him a nouggie, messing up his flaming red hair.

"So, Fiona," Hermione breathed, her and Ginny literally coming in right behind you, having followed you two around Diagon Alley. "how was your little outing?"

"Good, thanks." you said, cuddling your new pet. "Look who I've got! Fred picked him out for me." you said happily, allowing your two friends to pet the adorable creature.

"Aww, what's his name?" Ginny asked, giggling at how Freddy's little pink tongue tickled the tips of her fingers as he licked them curiously.

"Freddy." you smiled. "Fred also chose the name."

"Would've guessed." Hermione joked as she continued to pet Freddy.


	4. Fireworks - a Fred Weasley Story, 4

Numerous amounts of comments were made from George and Ginny throughout your third year. George saying things like; 'How's your girlfriend/boyfriend?' and 'Getting a kiss or two there?' or 'Aww, how sweet!' and sometimes sings the wedding tune to annoy Fred further, it annoyed you too, but you ignored it most of the time. Well, you tried to at least. And Ginny asked you occasionally if you fancied her brother, which you often responded by saying 'Which one?' to annoy her, acting stupid to drop the subject. You didn't of course, Fred was just a good friend. Right? Yes, a friend. What's wrong with having a good friend? Draco is good friends with Blaise but you don't see anyone asking them if their boyfriend is ok, or if they're stealing a kiss or two. Actually, everyone was afraid of them a little; and people knew that they were both straight. It was Crabbe and Goyle people question about.

There was a Quidditch match coming up and it was pouring it down outside, a storm was beginning to brew more and more the later it got. You and Ginny were eating breakfast with your friends in the hall, stuffing yourselves full with all the different choices available.

"Do you think they'll cancel the game?" Asked Ginny after finishing a mouthful of toast. Hermione thought for a brief while and then shrugged.

"Who knows, but I highly doubt it. Oliver is very focused when it comes to Quidditch, and determined might I add."

"It's how we win!" said Oliver a little further down the table, the Scottish boy smiled an excited smile. "Anyway, it'll make the game more interesting. Dodging lightning and manoeuvring in and out of the thundering rain, these games are the best."

"If you love Quidditch so much, why don't you just marry it?" spat Draco Malfoy from the Slytherin table, his gang of friends sniggered at his comment, their mouths full of breakfast. Oliver scowled at his comment, but then grinned at what you said quietly next.

"It would beat marrying him for sure, any day." The groups of Gryffindor's also sniggered but tried to hold in their outbursts of laughter, not wanting to make a scene.

"What's that, Holloway?!" Draco bellowed so that you could hear him, although you could hear him perfectly clear when he spoke normally.

"Who, me?" you asked innocently, pointing to yourself.

"Is there anyone else here called Holloway?" he asked sarcastically, earning him a few more snorts and sniggers from his friends.

"Well, no. But don't worry your little greasy head about it, Malfoy. We were just saying how it would be much nicer to marry Quidditch than to marry someone like you."

"Take that back!" screeched Pansy Parkinson angrily, standing up instantly and knocking over Goyle's drink all over his lap. You thought to yourself sarcastically for a moment, but then tilted your head with a shrug.

"Gee, I would, but that would mean being _nice _to Malfoy," some Gryffindor's couldn't believe how you were standing up to them, especially the little first years that they picked on. "and also that would mean me saying that he is marriage material."

"He IS," Pansy said proudly, not noticing the cringe on Draco's face. "everything about him id PERFECT. His face, his eyes, his talents, his hair-"

"Yeah, what is up with your hair, Malfoy?" you asked again. Draco's eyes widened, his nostrils flaring from anger.

"Excuse me?!"

"What is up with your hair?" you repeated. "For years one and two you had it slicked back with so much hair product that it just looked plain greasy all the time, and now its kind of... floppy." you said, waving your two fingers above your eyebrows like windscreen wipers on a car. "I mean, what is up with that? It's parting loads in your fringe, practically a curtain parting with loads of tears in it, but with wallpaper paste dripping off of it." The whole Gryffindor table 'ooed' and laughed at your comment, as did other students from Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. Draco turned a deep beet red as his hand trembled up to touch his fringe and the rest of his hair, realising that you were right. He looked like he was actually about to cry, he shot up from his seat and strutted speedily away out of the hall, his hand shielding his hair as he walked. Pansy, being the annoying girl she is, followed him like a sheepdog, whilst Crabbe and Goyle just sat there stuffing their faces.

"Gosh, Fiona." Hermione said with a slight snigger.

"You totally caned him!" Ron said in awe, Harry had the same expression as his best friend.

"Eh, someone had to put him in his place." you said modestly.

"Good one, Fiona." said the twins together as they approached the table and sat down, having watched it from a good view at the open doors and having being shoved out the way by an emotional looking Draco.

"That little git got what he dishes out." said George, shovelling in a mouthful of cereal into his mouth.

"I've got to say love," said Fred as he buttered some toast, already dressed in his Quidditch gear, as were the other Gryffindor's in the Quidditch team. "I didn't know that you had a feisty side." he joked with a wink, taking a bite out of his toast as you smiled modestly with a shrug, feeling your cheeks burn up again, but luckily it went as soon as it came.

"Fred and George, well, mostly Fred," began Oliver as he held a goblet of juice in his hand. "that you have a talent in Quidditch, Fiona." You lowered the fork that had a piece of sausage stuck on it back onto your plate, listening to what Oliver was saying. "Why don't you come to try-outs? I'm sure you're as good as they say you are." You looked over at the twins sat opposite you who lowered their heads as soon as you glanced over at them, pretending that they don't know a thing about this.

I don't know," you said.

"Aw, come one," Oliver said with a smile. "just come along, you never know, you might even make the team." You shook your head.

"No, thanks."

"Why not?" the twins whined together at the same time, looking back up at you with questioning looks. You shrugged.

"I just don't want to at the moment. Ready to go?" you asked Hermione, you both were going to cram in a little studying before the game. She nodded as she finished off her apple juice, standing up as soon as she placed the goblet down.

"Are you coming to the game?" asked Fred hopefully before you left.

"Checking if you're girlfriend is coming to watch you show off, Freddy?" George taunted under his breath, taking a large bite out of his toast when Fred elbowed him in the arm.

"Shut up, George." he whispered from the corner of his mouth, annoyed with his brother's constant comments. You nodded.

"Yeah, I'm coming." you said with a smile and a wave, walking away with Hermione to go study for a little while. Ginny raised her eyebrows t Fred.

"Ron, you coming?" he asked his brother who had a mouthful of food stuffed into his mouth.

"Wh? O, ye-ah." he managed to say between the food, trying to chomp it down before he chokes on it.

About an hour later, everyone was outside in the pouring rain to watch the Quidditch match. Your house was crammed into the stands, their eyes squinting to hope that will give them a better view through the rain that beat against their faces. It was against Hufflepuff today and Gryffindor had the lead, 70 points to 20. You liked the Hufflepuff's, they were good sports, unlike the Slytherin's who were sore losers and often tried to harm the players as they played. You could hardly see the players through this thick rain, but thanks to their scarlet red uniforms and canary yellow uniforms, you were able to see them. They had goggles on to shield their eyes from the thundering rain that constantly flicked into their faces. Even though the rain darkened their hair when wet, you could still see the two red-heads beating the bludgers with all their might. It was easy to tell them apart, even in conditions like this. The twin that was showing off, was Fred. The twins always show off when it comes to their best talents, always wanting to impress and whip the other team down to an utter defeat.

"You alright, Ginny? You look very cold!" you shouted so that your friend beside you could hear over the thunderous rain. She clutched the edge of her hood desperately, trying to shield her from the horrible weather. She squinted her eyes as she twisted her head around to face you.

"What?!"

"Are you alright?" you repeated.

"What?!"

"Are. You. Alright?!" you shouted a little louder.

"Oh, yeah!" she grinned, laughing as she went back to focus on the game.

"How about you, Hermione?!"

"What?! Oh, yes, thank you!" Hermione giggled as she tried to make her voice audible. You gave up with holding on tightly to your hood, finding it pointless that you even tried to keep yourself dry from the rain, so you let go of it and gripped your hands onto the bar in front of you to keep yourself sturdy, so that you wouldn't fall off or fly away even. You could barely see the players now that the storm had gotten worse. All you could see were blurs of hardly-there red and yellow, though it was difficult to tell the two teams apart because they were so drenched. Everyone still kept on cheering though, but were then startled as a huge bolt of lightning crashed through the centre of the Quidditch field, sending a large flash of light to temporally blind the players, causing them to halt right in their tracks and shield their eyes with one soaking wet arm. Suddenly, a bludger came swooping round the pitch freely and smacked right into one of the players, knocking them right off their broomstick from a high distance and splattered right into the thick mud below; luckily, the mud was soft and they didn't die, hopefully. Gasps and a few screams from little first years echoed through the gaps of the rain at the sight of this sudden attack.

"Who was it? Who fell off their broom?!" you demanded, squinting to try and see who that was clutching their arm while unconscious. Every member of the team, including Hufflepuff, were told to return to the ground to prevent anymore accidents from occurring.

"Come on," Hermione shouted. "let's go see who it is!" All three of you, and many other students crowded round the already large circle that formed around the body on the floor. Luckily, the three of you managed to get to a space where you could fully see. But once the player was in view,it came to a shock for all three of you.

"Fred?!" you all said together, a little surprised that he was the one to get knocked off his broom, seeing as he was such a good player.

"All right, back up, back up!" Yelled a teacher, shooing the students away. They began to take Fred away to the hospital wing, accompanied by the whole Gryffindor team and some students who were curious to find out whether he was dead or not.

"George," you yelled, waving over at a slightly shocked brother. "George!" He only noticed your yell once you were only a few feet away from the tall red-head, the two of you completely drenched from head to toe. "George, what happened?"

"Dunno, a bludger saw the advantage and decided to hit the one who hit it last, which was Fred. I think." he shrugged as you both followed the small crowd. Once Fred was placed on a bed in the hospital wing, some students were told to leave. First years repeatedly asked if he was dead or not, receiving some annoyed glares from George which frightened them away.

"Is he dead?" Ron asked, standing next to a very wet Harry.

"No, you nitwit!" tutted George. Just then, a groan sounded from Fred and his eyes began to open groggily.

"Wha... what happened?"

"Got hit by a bludger, brother." said George with a mocking laugh. "Knocked you right in the arm and off your broomstick, right down to the squishy mud." Nearly every player was covered in mud, but Fred's Quidditch uniform was absolutely painted with the stuff, hardly any red was visible.

"Did we lose?" Fred asked as he tried to sit up, but was then told off by Madam Pomfrey and was forced to drink some horrid medicine to repair his injury. "Ugh," he gagged after swallowing the liquid.

"We're currently in the lead," began Oliver, who was stood nearby the bed next to Angelina and Katie. "but the match has been postponed until the storm finishes."

"Will I be able to play-"

"Absolutely not!" scowled Madam Pomfrey as she took back the bottle of medicine. "I'm afraid that you will have to sit this one out, Mr Weasley."

"What?!" shrieked Oliver a little highly, not noticing the few sniggers that came from Ron and Harry. "But he's one of our best players!"

"I'm sorry, Mr Wood, but you'll just have to make do without." she turned round on her feet and walked away, her clicking shoes echoing through the almost empty hospital wing. Oliver groaned.

"Great, just great. We're one beater short, who're we going to replace Fred with?" A few team members shrugged and withdrew their gaze from the angry looking Oliver, a little afraid that he will explode any second now. Fred managed to sit himself up after a few groans and winces, his arm tied up in a slink to keep it a little more comfortable. Everyone fell silent, thinking about what to do until Fred suddenly burst out.

"Fiona!" You jumped a little from the sudden yell of your name. "Would you fill in for me?"

"W-what?!" you stuttered a little, panicked. "Why me?"

"Because," Fred sighed. "I know that you're great at Quidditch, and that you're a good beater. All you need is a couple of days practice and boom, you're fine!" He said hopefully. "Oliver, when is the game going to be?"

"Well, er," Oliver hummed while wiping off a bit of mud off of his chin. "it's been held in a few days or so, when the storm has completely cleared up. So that would be, Tuesday, I think."

"So, how many days practice?"

"I'd say about, two, maybe three."

"Excellent!" said Fred. He then turned his attention back to you, smiling hopefully. "Well? Will you do it?" Everyone's eyes turned to you, staring at you as they waited for an answer. A long pause went by, your mouth unable to form any words.

"Aw, come on Fiona, do it for your boyfriend."

"Shut up, George." Fred said as he punched his brother's arm. He then looked back at you with a small smile. You sighed heavily.

"Ok, fine." Fred smiled gratefully as Oliver nodded.

"Alright then. Fiona, training starts tomorrow at 5:30am."

"5:30?" you gasped in disbelief and groaned a little. You glared at Fred with slightly squinted eyes, he chuckled nervously and smiled a guilty smile, hoping that you wouldn't kill him.


	5. Fireworks - a Fred Weasley Story, 5

"I'm so screwed," you groaned to yourself the next day, thumping your head down flat onto the table quite hard. "ow." you whined under your breath, although you didn't really care. Hermione was reading one of her books about magical creatures again beside you, a couple more books were placed on the table whilst she finished off reading the one in her hands.

"Well it's only one game." she stated.

"Yeah, but Wood said that if I do really well in this game then I may be able to get a place on the team, any position I want!" you groaned again. Hermione couldn't understand why you were so miserable.

"It's a small favour, Fred is very grateful." you grunted in response, your face still flattened on the table. You then shot your head back up, your eyes widening a little.

"I haven't even got a broomstick! How can I play without one?!"

"Fiona," said Colin Creevey in his adorable high voice, walking over to you. He carried a quite long and thin package wrapped in brown paper and handed it over to you. "package!"

"Oh, thank you Colin." you said in slight surprise. You stared at it until Ron came over with Harry in curiosity.

"Go on, Fiona, open it!" You did as you were told and began to tear open the package. Within thirty seconds later, all the paper had been shredded down to the floor. Everyone around you awed in amazement and their eyes were widening. Inside was the new Firebolt, the exact same one as Harry's. "Whoa!" Ron awed, seeing another brand new make of the broom was breathtaking, seeing the shine on the brightly polished wood and the slick sticks.

"There," Hermione said smugly. "you have your broom."

"But, how...?" you looked over at Hermione who then smiled brightly.

"I sent an owl, to your parents." you smiled in thanks towards her, amazed by the quality of your new broomstick.

It was soon the day of the re-match, and you were up early from squeezing in a quick practice at an earlier time of 5:00am. It was now about 9:00am and the game was at 10:30am. You were returning from practice with Wood who walked with you into the hall for breakfast, the rest of the team already there eating their own. You were already dressed in your brand new Quidditch uniform, the scarlet and gold bright and proud looking to be a Gryffindor uniform. You walked over with your broom held in your hand, receiving a few stares of awe from students in other houses at the brand. You sat down next to Harry when Hermione shuffled over so that you could sit between them. You thanked her quietly and it was clear that you were nervous.

"Don't worry," said Ron through a mouthful of sausage and ketchup. "you'll be fine, won't she Harry?"

"M-hm." Harry nodded, not wanting to speak while his mouth was full but managed to give you a supportive smile.

"Just don't do a Freddy," said George from across the table, also dressed in his Quidditch gear. Fred tried to hit him, but George was sat on the side of Fred's bandaged arm, so he couldn't hit him. Instead, he reached his fork across with his usable hand and stabbed George's hand, laughing at George's slight yelp.

"You'll be fine," said Fred with a smile. "and thanks again, Fi-Fi."

"Fi-Fi?" Ginny asked, raising her eyebrows in questioning, wondering why Fred said that.

"Yeah, that's what I call her." he said truthfully, smiling at the little nickname. You smiled and shook your head, not minding the new nickname you received. You nervously began to eat your breakfast, scared at what might happen on this sunny morning.

The game soon arrived and all of the team were making their way through to the pitch, awaiting their signal to come onto the pitch. You exhaled nervously, your hands were shaking a little as you held onto your broomstick tightly and the beater's bat in the other. George noticed how nervous you were feeling and placed a hand on your shoulder.

"Don't worry, it'll be great. Fred and I felt exactly like you do now at our first game, and now we love it! You'll love the thrill, especially on your broomstick. We'll be unstoppable!" But before you could reply, the door opened, signalling for you to go. Everyone quickly climbed onto their broomsticks and Oliver called over his shoulder.

"Alright, let's do this!" And with that, he zoomed off into the sky, followed by the rest of the team with eager smiles spread across their faces. You loved the feel of the cool morning breeze through your hair, the feel of being able to fly in the sky was just incredible. You could feel the excitement begin to bubble inside of you, gradually increasing to heavy beats of butterfly wings. You could hear the cheer from your friends in the crowd, supporting you and cheering you on. You tightly held onto the bat, not wanting it to slip out of your hand the minute the game started. You began to dream a little as you took in the surroundings, _this isn't so bad, _you thought to yourself with a smile. But then, the whistle was blown loudly, knocking you out of your little daydream and realising that the game had begun. The scores were just the same where you left off, Gryffindor: 70 points, Hufflepuff: 20 points. You kept watch of the bludgers and an eye on Harry so that he wasn't hit by one of them, seeing as they like to hit the seekers now and then. You flew around the pitch on your broom at a good pace, but not too fast just yet, so that you can concentrate. You could see Oliver put his thumbs up, indicating that you were doing just fine. You nodded in response.

As the game went on, the faster it got. The chasers whizzing past you as they tried to reach the goalposts. The scores had increased, Gryffindor: 90 points, and Hufflepuff: 50 points. Then, a bludger was nearing Harry, fast. You noticed this instantly and swiftly zoomed over to where he was, your speed was faster than any others.

"Heads up, Harry!" you yelled, getting his attention. As you flew by, you swung the bat as hard as you could and whacked the bludger far off the other end of the court. You smiled, receiving a very pleased smile from Oliver at your increasing skills as a beater. Then, one of the Hufflepuff beaters smacked the bludger right back at you. Quickly, you span yourself round on your broom in a 360 degree motion. You blinked in surprise as you returned back to normal, hearing cheers from your friends and others at your dodging technique. The game had been going on for ages, and Harry was zooming after the snitch with his hand stretched out in front of him to grab it. You and George manoeuvred in and out of the players, whacking the bludgers away from your fellow team-mates. A bludger was heading straight towards Oliver and you reacted, yelling at George that you had this one and whizzed off to the goal posts. Within seconds, you thwacked the bludger hard with your bat and sent it flying, accidentally hitting Cedric Diggory off of his broomstick. You gasped.

"Sorry!" You could hear Oliver laugh behind you.

"Nice shot, Fiona!" You couldn't help but laugh also at your aiming skills, he was at the far end of the pitch when you hit him. A second after your laughter it was announced that Harry Potter had caught the snitch and won the game for Gryffindor. The Gryffindor stand cheered loudly, jumping up and down while waving frantically. Everyone flew down to the ground, congratulating Harry for catching the snitch and you also for being quite a good beater. Oliver joined the ground a few seconds after you had landed.

"Not bad, Holloway." he praised, smiling proudly and looking as if he could have kissed you from how good you had played. "Maybe there will be a place for you on the team, if you want it." You smiled up at the Scottish lad, thinking.

"What position?"

"Chaser, most probably." You nodded in thought, smiling.

"I'll think about it."

"Great," Oliver smiled with a wink, and with that, he walked off to the changing rooms.

"Fiona, you were amazing!" Ginny squealed as she hugged you. She then lowered her voice to a whisper that only you could hear. "I think Oliver was very proud of you too," She grinned and giggled a girlish giggle and you rolled your eyes.

"Ginny, he's like, way older than me."

"And? It's only a few years difference." she said in whisper again, grinning hugely. "What did he say to you just a moment ago?"

"He said that if I wanted a place on the team, I can have it."

"What, just like that?" Ginny asked, clicking her fingers once. You nodded and copied her action by clicking your fingers once.

"Just like that."

"Wow," she said, a little surprised. "Oliver hardly ever offers anyone a place just like that, he would usually have them do several try-outs before even considering them as part of the team. He must be really impressed with you, Fiona."

"You think so?" you asked curiously. Ginny nodded.

"you should have seen the smug look he had on his face when you hit Cedric off of his broom, the boy almost fell off his own broom from laughing too much!" she giggled whilst you rolled your eyes with a small smile. "Plus he's Scottish," she swooned with a sigh. You laughed.

"What's that got to do with anything?" Ginny clicked her fingers in front of your face, as if you were completely mental for not noticing.

"Have you _heard _his accent?! It's wonderful..." she sighed dreamily, making you take a step away. "Go out with him!"

"Stop setting me up with people!" you laughed, throwing a bit of grass at her as you dodged her hand that tried to hit you. "Besides, he's just a friend. Nothing more, nothing less. Why don't you go out with him, then?" Ginny blushed, hiding her cheeks in her hands.

"I'm _too _young for him," she said embarrassedly.

"Oh, and I'm not?" you laughed. This conversation went on and on for the rest of the day with Ginny constantly embarrassing you without meaning to.


	6. Fireworks - a Fred Weasley Story, 6

"Fiona!" Oliver called over to you as you entered the common room later that evening. You smiled, having gotten dressed back into your normal clothes earlier in the changing rooms. He got up from his seat and walked over to you, smiling a bright smile. "Listen, about the game, you were brilliant. Utterly. Especially now that we have two player with _two _Firebolts, we're unstoppable! Anyway, what I said earlier, I meant it; if you want a place, it's yours."

"Oh," you said, looking up at the taller boy. "ok."

"So," he began again. "do you want a place? Chaser, maybe?" His eyes looked really hopeful as he waited impatiently for an answer to his question.

"Aw, look, Freddy; Wood's stealing your girlfriend!" George cackled at his brothers annoyed face, wishing that he didn't do that every single day.

"I'll think about it," you said with a nod. Oliver also nodded, smiling.

"Don't leave it too long, ok?" You nodded, watching him walk away and up the boy's dormitory staircase. Fred and George then came over, Fred's arm still bandaged up.

"What did he want?" asked Fred a little too eagerly, earning him a curious look from George.

"Hm? Oh, he just offered me a place on the team, as chaser. No biggie." you shrugged simply, smiling up at the very tall red-heads.

"No biggie?" they said together.

"It's very rare for Oliver to even _offer _a place without several try-outs." You simply shrugged again, getting bored with the same genre of conversation.

A few days later, Fred's arm was completely healed and was able to resume his original place as beater, thankfully. It was dinner time at Hogwarts, and the majority of the school was in the hall scoffing their faces with plate after plate amounts of food. You approached Oliver and tapped his shoulder, getting his attention.

"Oh, hey Fiona." Wood greeted once he finished his mouthful of food and then smiled up at you. "What's up?"

"Well," you began as you took a seat next to him and began to shovel on some delicious looking food onto your plate. "I've been thinking about what you said, about the chaser thing,"

"Yeah?" He asked.

"And after _loads _of pestering by two ginger boys," you sighed, looking up at the two grinning twins. "and, I've decided to pass on the offer." George choked on his food and Fred coughed on his drink, even Harry was a little surprised that you turned the offer down. But no one looked as shocked and as upset as Wood, who really wanted you to be on the team.

"What? Why?" he demanded. You shrugged.

"Like I said, Quidditch isn't really my thing. Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy it, but I want to focus on my studies. Sorry." Oliver was lost for words, his mouth hung open as he tried to speak.

"But – but-"

"She's made up her mind, Oliver." said Hermione in an irritated voice as she joined in the conversation. "Don't keep pestering her about it or she definitely _won't _join the team." She tutted, along with a sigh. She then looked up at you, as she was sat opposite you on the long table. "Are we still ok for studying later? We have that Potions essay to do. At least two pieces of parchment must be filled, oh, I am so excited to get started!" she squealed a little, receiving some groans from other students in your year and a death glare full of sharp daggers from Oliver, as if he could strike at any moment.

"Why don't you want to do it, Fiona?" asked Ron as he shoved in a large piece of sausage covered in ketchup into his mouth. Hermione clacked her fork back down onto her plate before it even reached her mouth.

"What did I just say, Ron?" Ron sat there in confused silence, he obviously didn't listen to a word this bossy boots had said in the last minute or so. She sighed in irritation. "I said to quit bothering her about Quidditch! Honestly!"

"But she has talent!" Wood whined slightly, trying to knock this piece of information into Hermione's thick skull.

"She also has many other talents, but do you see me trying to force her to become a teacher? No, I didn't think so either." Her voice had become quite stern and sharp, clearly having become utterly fed up with this repeating complaint.

"Fiona," Ginny said quickly to prevent any more bad energy to flow across this table. "are you still able to come over mine in the holidays?" she asked. You nodded after a brief second of thought.

"I should think so, I don't have anything planned or coming up I don't think." Hopefully, the holidays would come sooner rather than later; quicker rather than slower, because you just wanted to escape from this tense place and wanted it to be a time of relaxation. Which, you know wouldn't happen, unfortunately.


	7. Fireworks - a Fred Weasley Story, 7

"Fiona, Fiona, Fiona, Fiona!" Oliver called quickly, not taking a single short breath whilst speaking so quickly. He sped walked (almost ran) over to where you were sat at the Gryffindor table eating your lunch next to Ginny and opposite Hermione, who seemed to scowl once Oliver finally came over. You put down your fork and smiled up at the teenager with flushed cheeks, concerned that he had been over doing himself with being fit and healthy.

"Oh, hey, Oliver. What's up?"

"It's Harry," he began, finally taking one heap of a breath once he stopped running. "that blasted Snape has given Harry two weeks detention for something Malfoy did, and can't make it to Quidditch this Sunday! It's completely outrageous!" He almost yelled every single word, his face boiling with anger and reddening even more when each word was spoken.

"Let me guess, you want me to fill in for him?" you asked knowingly. Wood grinned.

"Would you? I mean, that would be really helpful if you did, considering that you're the only one who is good at nearly every position in Quidditch I thought that I would come to you first." You sighed heavily. You knew that he would actually beg you to fill in for Harry, and that he would get down on his knees and plead if it meant Gryffindor winning. You looked over at the desperate boy again. The hopefulness that he had in his expression was just hilarious, he would do anything for Gryffindor to win in Quidditch.

"Ok, fine." you sighed again, smiling. Oliver almost leapt in joy, but held it back just in time with a 'casual' cough and 'cool' smile.

"Great, er, see you at practice then?"

"Sure,"

"Or, we could practice now, if you like? The team is having a practise in an hour or so, but I thought that you might have wanted to get used to the seeker position and chase after the snitch?"

"Er, yeah, ok. I need to get my Firebolt from my room first, if that's ok?"

"Yeah, sure," he nodded, thrilled that you said yes to being seeker just for this game coming up in a couple of days time.

"Hermione, is it alright if I catch up with you later? I will still come with you to the library later on." You looked over at an irritated looking Hermione, glaring annoyingly over at the teenager beside you.

"Promise?"

"Promise," you nodded.

"Very well," she sighed heavily and shoved in a forkful of food into her mouth to prevent her from saying anything that she might regret. You smiled weakly to your annoyed friend, deciding that now was the best time to leave before she has another go at you both. She waited until you two had walked off out of ear-shot and leant over to Ginny and whispered loudly. "I swear that he likes her."

"Of course he does!" George chuckled, interfering with the conversation. "She's good at Quidditch, pretty, smart and actually laughs at his jokes."

"She laughs at practically everything," said Fred as he sipped at his goblet filled with pumpkin juice.

"Yes, she does." agreed George, nodding his head. "Best get her before Wood does, eh, Fred?" Fred laughed sarcastically and his smile soon left as soon as it came. A frown was now planted on the once cheerful face of Fred, haunting him for the rest of the day.

The game of Quidditch against Ravenclaw soon came, and Oliver was leading the group over to the door where they'll await the signal to enter the arena.

"Right, you know what to do, Fiona?" he asked. You raised your eyebrows at his ridiculous question.

"Er, catch the snitch?" you said with a light laugh.

"Right," he nodded with a blink, having just realised his stupid question. "sorry." Fred gripped the beater's bat tighter in his gloved hand, wishing he could smack it around that Scottish teenager's head. Unfortunately, Harry couldn't make the game either because Snape meant his word when he said that Harry would get detention and made sure that he spent every last minute of it. You couldn't help but feel sorry for Harry, you saw what Draco did and Harry had nothing to do with it. You would've said something, but Snape scared you a little and would most probably have given you detention as well for disrupting him. You felt a little sick. The nerves built up more and more inside of you the more you thought about it. You swallowed. Then, the doors opened. Oliver smiled eagerly and his eyes sparkled at the thought of winning the house cup. He kicked off from the ground as did the others and flew right up in the air, you did too after snapping out from your thoughts. You soared into the sky, faster than anyone else on both teams thanks to your Firebolt. You took your place in the sky nervously. You didn't know why, but the fact of having the role as seeker had more pressure than the other positions did, it was you who could win the game for Gryffindor.

"How am I meant to do this?" you said quietly to yourself and took a heavy shaken sigh, trying to calm yourself down before the game began. You looked over at Fred and George who were hovering nearby. They both smiled and waved the bat towards you, mouthing 'good luck'. You smiled weakly, unable to get rid of the nerves that fluttered sickeningly in your stomach. A few seconds later, the whistle was blown and the quaffle was thrown high into the air, starting the game. You weren't sure what to do. Should you stay where you are and hope that the snitch would fly nearby soon? Or maybe you should fly around in search of it instead of being such a chicken. You decided that the second option was best and began to fly at a steady pace around the arena, dodging past bludgers and players that came whooshing by you. You also kept an eye on the Ravenclaw seeker, making sure that they weren't following you around. As you flew, you watched your team-mates play. Fred and George were terrific beaters, Oliver was a great keeper, and the chasers were really good too. Then there was just you. Your first time at seeker and you desperately didn't want to screw this up and lose the game for Gryffindor.

After half an hour of just plain flying, a glisten of gold caught your eye. There, fluttering near George, was the snitch. You gasped and blinked. You quickly snapped out of your daze and sped after the snitch, almost knocking George off of his broom.

"Sorry, George!" you called back as the snitch fled.

"I'm Fred!" he yelled back.

"Not now, George!" you shouted as you followed after the snitch at quite a fast speed, gaining on it more and more with each second that went by. Oliver kept an eye on you, just in case if anything went wrong and you needed some help. But, he was quite impressed with how well you were actually coping. Your hand was stretched out in front of you as you chased after it. Your front teeth were clamped down onto your bottom lip as you focused on the glittering gold ball in front of your eyes. The Ravenclaw seeker was a bit oblivious to your position, as a bludger was on their tail and they were trying very hard to lose it. Your fingertips were only a few inches away from the fleeing gold, straining your arm to stretch any further. Three inches... two... one... The very tips of your fingers brushed ever so slightly against the polished gold and felt the gentle very swift beats of its wings glide over your skin.

"Come on," you groaned to yourself as you made your broom go a little faster. But as your broom's speed increased, so did the snitch annoyingly. But that didn't stop you. You forced every last grain of energy to be released as you eagerly stretched for the winning piece. You could feel the eyes of the Gryffindor's and Ravenclaw's watch you like flies to a bright light, glued as they awaited the fate of the game. With one last stretch you reached the snitch closer, but as you attempted to grab it, your other clammy hand slipped from the polished wood of your broomstick handle, sending you spinning down and crashing onto the ground below. You could hear the gasps of the crowd as they watched. Madam Hooch blew her whistle for a time out and a few people flew down to the ground.

"Fiona, Fiona, are you alright?" Katie asked as she rushed over.

"Fi-Fi?" Fred asked as he ran over to where you were on the ground, accompanied by Oliver and George, who all looked as worried as each other. You attempted to sit up but groaned at the small pain. You shakily stood up with the help of the twins and then looked down to your hand. Inside, was the golden snitch, shining brightly as you held it in your gloved hand. The crowd cheered loudly as Lee yelled 'GRYFFINDOR WINS!' The team patted you on the back in praise, and even the Ravenclaw's congratulated you on your success. But, you received a different praise from Oliver, who swept down and kissed you right on the lips.


	8. Fireworks - a Fred Weasley Story, 8

You froze in complete shock, the sudden feel of his lips pressed against yours was just unexpectedly heart-stopping. The whole world seemed to stop at this very moment, whirring to a focused point in time which sent chills shivering up and down your spine. Without realising the world was continuing around you, you discovered the identity of this kisser. A swarm of butterflies flew rapidly around inside of you as you saw those big brown eyes of Oliver Wood. He smiled sheepishly at you once he had pulled away. The looks you received from others were mixed; some were thrilled, some were confused, and one person was highly jealous. The raging colour of his cheeks outran the fiery strands of his shining red hair, making it look pathetic against it. Fred stood a few inches behind his brother as he witnessed the sudden change of scene and felt the anger bubble aggressively inside of him. The gripped tightened dramatically on his broomstick and his muscles clenched. He scuffed around and stalked back to the changing rooms, not wanting to see anymore of this 'sweet' scene.

Although Fred would never admit it, it did have some sort of soft spot for his little sister's best friend. He realised this just now; at this very moment. He distanced himself further from the crowd, wanting to escape the hurt that grew around him. He scowled as he heard the upcoming footsteps of his concerned brother, George.

"Fred!" He called, jogging with his broom held securely in his grip as he chased after his fleeing twin. "Fred, wait up!"

"What?!" Fred spat, sending daggers towards his brother as his eyes begun to burn harshly. George halted a few feet away, stunned by Fred's swift change of attitude.

"Are you alright, mate? You seem-"

"Upset? Angry? Confused? Yeah, go ahead, pick one. I don't care. Just leave me alone, alright?"

"But, Fred-"

"Please, George!" George did what he was told and left his brother even though he just wanted to help him. Fred threw his broomstick across the room into the lockers along with the bat that was once held loosely in his grip. Fred had fallen silent as his ears echoed the sound of the loud thud. He stood there, alone. Whereas, you were giggling uncontrollably with your best friend once you had gotten changed back into your normal comfy clothes.

"I can't believe you go out with Oliver!" Ginny squealed as she skipped with you back to the castle across the growing green grass of the field.

"Ginny, it's literally been three minutes since he asked." You chuckled, shaking your head. She seemed to be more pleased than you were. Yes you thought that the age gap was a tiny bit far, but it was only three or four years, not that much. It excited you to think that someone in this fickle world actually cares about you. Yet, you are completely oblivious to how Fred secretly feels; as was everyone else for the matter.

Days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months. The time seemed to absolutely fly by when you were with Oliver. The amount of times he told you that he loved you was uncountable. He told you at least once every single day to let you know that he still cares about you more than anything in the entire world, maybe even more than Quidditch, and that's saying something. Even though your life had never seem so much brighter, there has been this constant thundering dark cloud that seemed to hover between you and Fred, his bolts of fury strike the very ground you walked on whenever he saw you with him. He even tried to knock Oliver off of him broomstick in a Quidditch match the other day, saying that it was an 'accident' and that he didn't mean for that darn bludger to go flying towards him in crackles of anger.

Although, when you had begun your forth year things began to change. Oliver did write to you as often as he could, but you hardly ever saw him over that long hot summer to your dismay; you hoped to have spent more time with him considering that you had all the time in the world back then, but no. Every time that you were free, he wasn't; and every time that he was free, you weren't. Overall, you saw him twice. Hooray.

You muttered angrily to yourself as you descended down the busy Great Hall at dinner time, muttering angrily to yourself as you cautiously watched any listening-in ears who tried to receive the tiniest of juices from why you were so angry. You sat yourself down forcefully next to Fred, hoping that he would somehow talk to you today; having ignored you for the past on and off days of each week that went by. Fred had his pale freckled face leant lazily into one of his large hands that easily out-stretched yours whilst his other loosely held a shining silver fork, sluggishly rolling one piece of broccoli from one side of the plate to the other.

"Where's your boyfriend, then?"

"He left last year, Fred." you tutted harshly as your eyes narrowed at his stupid words. Fred frowned.

"He's way too old for you." he mumbled to himself irritably as he force-fed himself the lonely piece of vegetable into his mouth and stared down at the almost empty plate that still remained full of shine, as if none of the food had even touched it at all.

"What's that, Fred?" You breathed in a bothered tone which Fred reflected exactly.

"He's too old for you," Fred repeated.

"Why do you even care anyway?"

"I don't, why should I?" he spat a little as he shovelled in a whole mouthful of food to stop him from saying anything that he may regret. He chomped and chomped down on the defenceless pieces of food as you scowled towards the angered red-head.

"Well, you have been such an annoying twit ever since I first started dating Oliver and have instantly disliked him ever since that day. You try and avoid me whenever I am around, you get up and leave every time Oliver is mentioned; even if it is the tiniest of bits-"

"Ok, ok! I get it alright! Why don't you just go cuddle up with your little friend and snog in the corner somewhere? It's what you would usually do!" That had done it, the final straw of your bundle had been withdrawn out of its hole and thrown away into the wind to fight for itself. You shot up from your seat on the table and grabbed a huge bowl of kiwi trifle from the crowded table and splashed it right down on top of Fred's head, squashing bits of cream and fruit into his once clean red hair as it squelched right over his locks and frown-filled face. Bits of cream and fresh cut kiwi had splashed all over him from the force of your shove. It dripped down his face and splattered on the floor below him, the white fluffiness of the cream and the juicy looking kiwi chunks contrasted against his pale complexion and red hair which was now completely covered in this delicious treat. George, who was sat next to Fred, was in the splashing zone and also got his right arm lightly sprayed with little bits of cream and only a couple chunks of that delicious kiwi. You angrily banged down the empty glass bowl down onto the spot it once sat in peacefully and stormed off and out of the hall, which was now filled with roars of laughter that erupted from the onlooking students of all years and houses. George swiped off a bit of cream off of his brother's forehead with his finger and popped it into his mouth, leaving behind a clear trail of skin that was now free of whipped cream.

"Didn't I tell you?" George muffled as he stuffed his finger into his mouth. "That those two broke up a week ago?" Fred lifted his cream covered face and tilted it heavily towards George.

"No."

"Oh, well now you know." George grinned innocently and desperately tried to hold back a howl of laughter at his brother's appearance.

"Thanks," Fred muttered with a huff.

"You're very welcome!" Beamed George, as if he had told him some important news (which he practically already did anyway).

"I was being – never mind." Fred mumbled with a heavy sigh. He wiped his finger along his cream-covered nose and removed the thick layer of cream, examining it in front of his big brown eyes before popping it guiltily into his mouth, flopping it back down onto the table after the cream had been wiped away.


	9. Fireworks - a Fred Weasley Story, 9

Fred trudged back to the common room, still picking out bits of trifle within patches of his scruffy red hair. He frowned at the sticky piece of kiwi that was deeply squished in a chunk of his fringe as he pulled it out and flicked it down to the ground. Alongside him was his very happy brother, George, who found this extraordinarily hilarious.

"Oh cheer up, Freddy," Beamed the boy who had to try and stifle his laughter. "It's not too bad. Besides, you finally found out what everyone was talking about for the past few hours."

"Yeah, well, I just got lucky, didn't I?" Fred grunted. George shrugged.

"Ah, well. You win some, ya lose some."

"What did I win?" Fred asked, "Tell me George, what did I win?"

"Well, er, nothing really." George rubbed the back of his neck and looked away off in another direction, feeling that the conversation had gotten a tiny bit awkward. "You lost a friend, I guess."

"Woo," Fred grumbled as he stomped his feet hard against the ground below him for the rest of the journey back to Gryffindor tower. He could feel the burn of embarrassment engrave into his freckly face and spread all over his pale skin. He could still hear the faintest of sniggers from passing by students, especially the Slytherins, who didn't hold back when insulting the poor boy, getting a extra bonus laugh from their groups that it was a Weasley too.

"Nice face, Weasley!" They cackled and howled in laughter, pointing and pulling the most foulest of faces towards the trifle-head. Fred just simply narrowed his eyes slightly and nodded in response before ignoring them completely. Silence was the only thing that was drifting in Fred and George's presence; Fred had a face of guilt that saddened him down to the very bone, and George was just too afraid to make anymore jokes about this moment, or any jokes about yours and Fred's friendship hanging on a thin piece of thread that looked as if it would snap at any unsuspecting moment.

As they proceeded into the common room, Fred had instantly spotted you accompanied by his younger sister in comfort, even though it looked as if you were alright you usually bottled up your feelings because you didn't like to make a fuss (even though you have your verbal fights with Malfoy, which he always loses unless you really could not be bothered that day). He swallowed the large dry lump that grazed its way down his throat as Ginny glared at him a little, her head shook lightly back and forth in disappointment in her brother's behaviour. She was quite mature for her age, but she sometimes has her mad girly moments. Fred cautiously edges his way around the walls of the room, taking hiding behind each student he passed even though he was a whole lot taller over the majority of the students that chatted contently to one another. But to Fred's dismay, Ginny came striding over to her brother with a face like roaring thunder, leaving you to talk to a merry looking Lavender.

"I _hope _you're happy," she spat a little as she folded her arms and glared right up at her tall, lanky brother who looked down at her with wide, frightened eyes; as if she was going to bite his ankles any time now. "You know that she's upset about the whole Oliver issue!"

"No, I didn't!" Fred whispered loudly, defending himself.

"Yes, you did!" she hissed in a quieter voice, her eyes narrowing.

"No, I didn't!" Fred repeated, standing his ground and thinking that he had a right to speak up and defend himself. "No one tells me anything these days,"

"Oh, gee, I wonder why?!" she huffed.

"Look, Ginny-"

"Stay out of it George!"

"Ok!" George didn't have to be told twice. He told a small step back with his hands risen high above his shoulders but not too high to retrieve any attention from the other Gryffindors. Ginny turned her scowling fierce eyes back to Fred and pointed out a finger up at him, barely reaching his face at all.

"Look, if you ruin this Christmas for her too I swear down that you will suffer worse than any of the three unforgivable curses. In fact, make that four, because you're one of them!" And with that, she spun round with her red hair flicking her in the face as she turned and travelled back to where you were with a lightened smile and breath. Fred stood there, silent. He couldn't believe that he was now frightened of his little sister, who was far shorter and innocent than he was.

"Blimey, someone's got their knickers in a twist!" George sniggered. Fred gulped once he had gained movement an then rushed up the stairs of the boys dormitory, having George following him with cackles of mischievous laughter that rung constantly between the reddening ears of Fred.

Christmas was getting closer, as was the Yule Ball, which all the girls were bustling and swooning over whilst the boys were confused and scared to even approach the girls to ask them. Quite a lot of the girls you knew had dates already. Lavender was going with Seamus, Molly was going with Cedric, Hermione was going with Victor (you were one of the people that Hermione trusted enough to tell who she was going with), even Ginny was asked by the shy, clumsy Neville who turned as bright as a beetroot when she agreed to go with him. To be honest, you weren't particularly in the mood for a ball filled with dancing and formal-wear, or to go out anywhere really.

The Ball was now only less than a week away and you still haven't got a date. You had been asked by a couple of boys and even Draco asked weirdly, but you rejected him by joining Molly in a double face cake wipe on his face, both double-chocolate. A good face-cake moment always cheered you up a little, especially if it's Malfoy. Seven days turned to six, six days turned to five, five days turned into four; four days until the big dance and you still hadn't gotten a dress or a date which Ginny was not happy with.

"Fiona," she began, her voice was as stern and concerned as her expression during revision class (which was open for all years). "You _have _to find a date for the Ball!"

"I don't really want to go to be honest, Ginny." you sighed as you copied down some Potions work from a large book that Snape had given to you to revise from.

"Has anyone asked you?"

"Yes,"

"Who?"

"I've told you already, Ginny." you said in a lowered whisper as Snape patrolled by in that slow yet intimidating walk of his that allowed his long black robes to flow like waves in the air behind him. Once he had passed, Ginny began to fuss again.

"Look, come dress shopping with me? Mum has sent me some money for a dress and I want to help find you one too." she asked with a whine of plead.

"I'll go with you, but there is no guarantee that I will be getting one too, ok?"

"Fine," she sighed, returning back to her notes. Further down the long dark wooden table was Ron whispering to Fred and George across from him.

"Who you going with then?" The two twins shrugged in time, both of the faces held looks of puzzle and uncertainty. George knew who Fred wanted to go with, it was as clear as a sooty black cat against fresh white snow; but he also knew that Fred was too scared to ask her, seeing as he had pissed her off earlier and wasn't sure if she had forgiven him yet for it or not. George began to scribble down on a spare piece of torn parchment with a nosey Fred watching him.

"What're you doing?"

"Writing."

"Duh," said Fred with a snort. Once George had finished writing, Fred took a sneak peek at it and read: Will you go to the ball with me? Fred grinned.

"Who're you asking?" But just before George was about to scrunch up the piece of parchment in a ball and throw it across the table, Professor Snape swiped it out of the lanky teenager's hand and stuck his long beaky nose against it as he read. He frowned and he screwed it up in his hand.

"I'd appreciate it if you kept your little love notes outside of class, Mr Weasley." Ron, Harry and Fred desperately tried to not laugh at the face of George. George waited for Snape to bugger off else where before he rose to his feet and sighed.

"Right then, guess I'll have to do this myself."

"Oh? Who're you asking?" Ron whispered across the table, curious to know.

"Fiona." stated George, smirking down at a shocked looking Fred.

"You will do no such thing!" he whispered loudly.

"Why not?" said George, teasing his brother. He wasn't actually going to ask you, he was only doing this to push Fred into cracking.

"Because... because...!" Fred stuttered, trying to create an answer for George's question. George tutted and pretended to turn and look as if he was about to leave to ask before a panicked looking Fred shot up like a bullet from his seat and yelled at the top of his lungs. "FIONA! WILL YOU GO TO THE BALL WITH ME?!" The whole room fell absolutely silent as they looked up at Fred and then followed over to stare at you and to see what your reaction would be. You were stunned, speechless as you saw everyone's eyes, including Snape's, were fixed on you. You stared over at the bright face of a nervous looking Fred, his long red hair shamed by the redness of his cheeks.

"WEASLEY!" roared Snape from the other side of the large classroom, his black eyes shining with rage and disgust. "How DARE you disturb this class! Leave, this instantly! And you will be receiving one hour detention in my office this afternoon!"

"B-but...! But sir-"

"NOW! Before I increase the time, which by all means, I am being very generous with your punishment. So, if I hear another single complaint from you Weasley, you'll wish you've never been born with that tongue of yours!" The whole room grew pale with fear whenever Snape yelled at a student. You watched the tall red-head walk off with a face leaking embarrassment and a look as if his head was naming him idiot of the year.


	10. Fireworks - a Fred Weasley Story, 10

Fred's detention started immediately as soon as he stepped into Snape's office, having given the task to clean every single dirty cauldron until it's sparkling clean within the hour and if he didn't finish in time; every cauldron that was left would be an extra five minutes detention time added on.

You were still sat in class by the time Fred reached Snape's office and remained in the same stunned speechless way since the very first word was yelled shakily across the room to you in a brave outburst. Ginny could see the utterly confused looked engraved upon your face and smiled, deciding it was best to click you out of your thoughtful trance.

"Why don't you go talk to him?" She suggested with an eager nudge. You looked at her with a silent mouth that hung open ever so slightly and then simply nodded.

"I'll... I'll go once class is over..."

"Will you say yes?" She whispered with a huge girlish smile.

"I... don't know," you breathed quietly. Would you? Well, he has been considerably nice to you ever since he has met you, however though; he has been such a huge annoying twit over the last few months which put you off from agreeing to go to the ball with Fred.

At the end of the life-long dragging revision class, everyone scrambled to their feet and bustled hurriedly out of the room, wanting to get away from the boredom that drained their lives away. You gathered up your books with a heavy sigh filled with nerves and uncertainty about how you were going to actually talk to Fred properly again. After one last breath, you pushed your heavy books back into your straining school bag and then set off down the corridor, edging your way through the blocks of slow walking students who, to your annoyance, hardly sped up their pace at all.

"For goodness sake!" you muttered under you breath as you sliced your way politely through the thick sea of students before gliding your way down the free corridor that led to Snape's office. You peeped into the classroom whilst hiding behind the column that stood darkly next to the doorway that led to the tall red-head cursing angrily under his breath. He had already finished cleaning most of them surprisingly, seeing as they're already quite clean and all he had to do was polish them. Still, he had a face of pure embarrassment and torture painted thickly across his pale skin.

"Fred?" You said quietly as you casually tiptoed around the corner and stepped into the dingy classroom. Fred jumped right out of his skin and almost dropped the cauldron he held in his long hands. He swiftly turned around on the spot to face you, a twitchy smile managed to show itself once he relaxed a little from knowing that it wasn't anyone who would tease him further.

"Oh, hey, Fi-Fi." Fred said nervously, his ears turning pink although they weren't visible beneath the waterfall of fiery red hair. An awkward silence fell between the two of you as you just stood there, hoping that this dreadful silence would die away any moment now. Luckily, Fred cautiously spoke up. "E-er... how are you?"

"Good, thanks. You?"

"Never better. Although, I'd prefer to be somewhere else than here though." A dry awkward laugh sounded from the two of you as you both nervously stood there, too afraid to ask the other about the whole Yule Ball thing coming up very soon. Fred slapped himself mentally and a tiny voice inside of his head shrieked 'don't be stupid, Weasley! Ask her! Do it, now! She's right there, do it. But this time, don't scare her!' "E-e-er,"

"Yes?"

"Well, er, Fi-Fi?"

"Yes?" you repeated and smiled sweetly, unable to hold it back at how adorable nervous Fred was being. Fred Weasley, the mischievous prankster who never went by the rules, was standing there looking like he was about to wet himself from the tension he feels to ask you to a simple ball. He opened his mouth again and took a deep breath.

"Will you go to the ball with me?" You stood there with a fickle smile which Fred couldn't understand. Was it a good smile, or a bad one? The nerves were eating away at the insides of him as the huge butterfly wings beat their large dragon-like wings heavily, churning up his stomach into a lava filled with so many feelings that it could spit and bubble over at any second.

"I'd love to."

"It's ok, I understand- wait – what?" Fred said, dumbfounded. He really thought that you were going to reject him and laugh in his face. "say that again?"

"No," you giggled.

"Meanie." he grinned but his facial expression still looked utterly dumbfounded as he absorbed in the reply you gave him. With one last kind smile towards the loveable wonderful Weasley twin you turned around gracefully and shuffled out of the dingy classroom into the large empty corridor that echoed every step that clicked below on the ground. But, hardly a meter or two away from when you left the classroom, Ginny burst out of nowhere and jumped right up beside you like a frog that was high on a sugary butterbeer.

"God, Ginny!" you breathed in a weak shout as your hand shielded over your excessive beating heart that pounded against your ribs. "You almost killed me there!"

"What did you say? What did you say? What did you say? What did you say? What did you say?" she buzzed, bouncing up and down on the spot and around you once you had tried to begin to walk away from her again. You smiled.

"I said that I would go with him."

"YES!" Ginny punched the air in triumph, like she had just won Gryffindor the house cup. "Dress shopping, here we come!"


	11. Fireworks - a Fred Weasley Story, 11

When the night of the Yule Ball came, Ginny and many other girls began to panic and bustle things about at the last minute. Ginny was already dressed in her pale pink and green dress with her hair all done naturally and lovely, but she had not yet finished her make-up. She seemed to rush putting on her light layer of mascara and foundation to cover up the slight possible breakouts coming up in her pale freckly skin. You were sprawled across your scarlet bed with the curtains neatly pinned back in the dorm that you shared with Ginny, Hermione and Lavender. A book about difficult Charms and Transfigurations lay open beneath your nose and bright interested eyes that swam through each page, defeating one page after the other in the thick-paged green leathered hardback.

"Fiona, get your nose out of that book and get ready," Ginny said in a motherly sort of way as she slid in another pin into her hair.

"Hold on," you raised your hand as you tried to finish off the last page of the extra long chapter that intrigued you severely with a childish excited grin planted on your face as you read the exhilarating solution to how to reverse this spell. Ginny however was not taking any of it. She placed her hands firmly against the small curves of her hips and frowned down at you, tapping the tip of her foot impatiently against the dark old wooden floor of your dorm. You could see the dark shadow hovering over you draw nearer and nearer, stopping in a intimidating way that could put you off your morning porridge. You smiled awkwardly up at your best friend who pointed over to your long flowing purple dress and frowned a frown that scared you down right to the very tips of your toes to the last strand of hair that rested on your head.

"Dress, now."

"But-"

"No buts!" she scolded as she swiped away the hardback book in one fighting swoop and flopped it down onto her bed. "I want this evening to go right! Perfect, even!"

"Perfect?" You asked with an eyebrow raised in suspicion, curious to know what she meant by that. Ginny turned away to face the large mirror that reflected her pretty reflection gladly, deliberately trying to swivel the conversation in another direction.

"Do you think my make up is alright?"

"Ginny you look lovely, now tell me what you mean by 'perfect'." You demanded as you swivelled off of your bed and stood on your bare feet on the rough wood below, taking a few steps towards your elegant dress as you waited for an answer from her.

"If you get ready, then maybe I'll tell you." she pointed over her shoulder accurately at your dress which was now held lightly between your fingertips. You groaned and did what you had to do, get dressed, even though you still had a good hour before you had to meet Fred down at the common room. Just the thought of dancing and being in the presence of Fred all night made your stomach tie up in a small knot for some strange reason. The thought of him being smartly dressed, behaving in a gentleman manner, was somehow unbelievable from observing him those years that you've known him for. After several long minutes of thinking as you slowly slipped on your dress, Ginny pulled you over to sit down on the stool in front of the large table mirror to do your hair and make-up for you (since you don't really wear much at all). She thoroughly brushed your long dark brown hair in slow gentle sweeps to get rid of any annoying knots that decided to pop up. After a few minutes of gentle brushing, your hair was completely smooth and shining like freshly molten dark chocolate. She began to pin it up bit by bit using sparkling silver pins with an excited hum.

"Ginny, explain yourself, now?" you asked hopefully, although you didn't get them up too high. To your surprise, she did.

"I want this night to go perfect for you and Fred," she muttered as she tried to focus.

"Why?"

"Because he really likes you," she said as she gently pinned another silver pin into your hair to keep it in place. "But he is too shy to admit it."

"Fred? Shy? Yeah right." you snorted, amused with the fact that the troublesome prankster had some sort of shyness buried deep within him. Ginny nodded as she finished your hair so that it is flowing in natural waves, half up and half down.

"Honestly. He's my brother Fiona, I think I can tell when he is acting strangely."

"He is strange, what are you talking about?" you chuckled with the tall redhead in mind. Ginny smirked at the thoughtful look on your face that had just appeared. But as soon as it came, it disappeared once you noticed that look she held. "...what?"

"Hm? Oh, nothing." she giggled innocently which seemed dangerous to you.

"Ginny?" you asked as your afraid eyes ventured up to her glistening ones which kept the secret tightly locked up. After about ten more minutes of touch-ups and tellings off by Ginny you were finally ready and absolutely nervous. "Oh, Ginny, thank you!" you awed as you caught a last second glimpse of yourself in the large mirror that hung happily on one of the old walls of the room. Ginny grinned proudly from ear to ear as she quickly clipped in a loose piece of her hair back with another pin. And with that, you both set off down the stairs, carefully tiptoeing down each and every one of them without tearing or stepping on your dress. As you pass another concrete step with another faint clicking echo of your heels, the more the butterflies seemed to swoop around inside of you, fluttering their way across each and every inch they could find and swamp with such irritating and unexplainable nerves. You took a silent deep breath and exhaled a long shaky breath that seemed to empty out your lungs of air entirely, exchanging it with a sea of other emotions that now flow freely throughout your body.

The last few steps came into view; three... two... one...

"Blimey," awed Fred as he turned at the sound of clicks from your shining silver heels against the floor. He scrubbed up pretty well when he had to. His long fiery red hair looked like it had been fully brushed with actual effort, his smart dress robes and actual polished shoes looked so different on the tall joker. In fact, it looked a little odd, but in a good way. "All right, love?" Fred purred with a cheeky wink. "You look gorgeous, as always."

"What?"

"Nothing." He laughed as he quickly responded, not meaning to have said the last part.

"I see that the ageing potion wore off,"

"Didn't you like it? I thought that you had a taste for older men?" he joked and laughed when he received a thump from your fist straight into his arm. "Kidding!"

"You'd better be," you laughed. The brand new silver heels that you wore made you a few inches taller but it made no difference standing next to Fred, you were still miles shorter than he was. Although, it's nice to have someone taller than you are, isn't it? Fred grinned his signature cheeky grin and held out his arm for you to take, trying to behave like some sort of gentleman on this formal evening.

"Shall we, my dear?"

"Indeed," you responded in a jokey sort of manner, neither of you really taking much seriousness from the basket filled with possibilities.

"Oh, hold on," Fred interrupted. He halted the two of you and leant down a little before kissing you on the cheek lightly but sweetly, as if a rose petal had fallen softly across your skin. He smiled a little gingerly as he explained himself for his action. "It's what you should do when greeting a lady, isn't it?" All you could do was shrug after a long drawn out stare into his big chocolate brown eyes. A little squeaky voice inside of your head was cursing and stomping loudly around as you could feel the edges of your cheeks begin to burn up into a flame of shyness, caressing each and every layer with the shame of your burning secret that constantly roared inside of your mind. You could hear the silent sniggers coming from Ginny's voice in her own head. You could read the visibly clear smugness smeared across her pretty face, thickly written across her forehead as she gave you a look of girlish curiosity whilst she began to walk away with her date for the evening, Neville.

Fred smiled as he returned back to his normal tall posture, standing high and proud as he also began to lead you away out of the empty common room and down the corridors to the beginning of what could be the most beautiful desired night of your lives. Already you could feel your heart flutter into a faster speed as you walked graciously alongside the tall teenager you've had a huge crush on for almost a year now, even when you dated Oliver you couldn't feel the sense of guilt sluggishly creeping around inside of you each time you caught a miserable glimpse of the redhead. But now, you couldn't be happier. The thought of spending the entire night with Fred at your side excited you to the very bone but terrified you also. What if he found out that you had a crush on him? Would it ruin the great friendship that you two had together? Or would it actually lead you down to another path of dreams and secrets yet to unfold?

These exact same thoughts also rushed through the mind of the tall teenager beside you, glancing down at you once in a while to take in the marvellous sight of you dressed up so elegantly. You often dressed modestly, not finding the need to wear make-up all the time or trying to impress every boy that looks at you even for the briefest of seconds. That's another reason why you and Ginny get along so well together, you don't fuss over yourselves as much as that pug girl Pansy Parkinson does. It makes you cringe how much she likes that foul boy Draco Malfoy, the amount of make-up she wears is just repulsive some days, the clothes didn't really add to it either. Simplicity was a good factor because then it would show off your natural side which everyone seems to love, even Malfoy can't deny that he doesn't fully hate you.

Your thoughts were soon disturbed by the breathtaking sight of the hall that was showered with elegant decorations and filled with students who all looked as lovely as one another, except Pansy of course, the girl really needed some guidance when it comes to her appearance. But once again your thoughts were disturbed by a soft voice asking permission.

"Fi-Fi?" asked Fred in whisper so that you could hear him. "Would you... like to dance?" You couldn't help but mentally awe like mad at how cute he was being, he didn't have to whisper but that was just another addition to the cuteness rating. You nodded with a smile as he took your hand inside of his carefully, as if you were going to slip away when his hand touched yours. You two both emerged from the thick onlooking crowd that surrounded the dance floor and managed to slip past the front row and break out of their thick barrier. You two took a place on the dance floor and waited for the next song to begin.

As you both waited, Fred twirled you briefly right on cue when the music began. It was a slow song, one where couple can easily talk if they wanted to or just stand there awkwardly swaying. You couldn't help but giggle once the unexpected twirl had ended and you both started dancing slowly with each other with smiles that brightly reflected the clear happiness to be in each other's company. The feel of his hand connected with yours turned your heart upside down in twists and turns, growing more light when his other hand was then placed upon your waist to begin the dance. He did look very handsome this night, as if a whole new Fred had cracked open from its shell and yelled out 'different!' with bright different coloured lights flashing about around him, bragging.

"I'm thinking about getting my hair cut," Fred said randomly out of the blue.

"Oh," you chuckled, finding his random outburst amusing. "Why?" Fred shrugged as he guided you around the dance floor elegantly, surprisingly.

"It's getting a tad too long, George agrees too. But it is a good length for head banging." He joked, deciding not to embarrass the two of you by demonstrating.

"Aw, Ginny will be so disappointed. She loved plaiting your hair."

"Yeah, shame. Random question here, do you know who put my hair in bunches and tied them together with little raspberry pink ribbons?" He asked suspiciously with one eyebrow raised, as if he already knew the answer. You smiled sheepishly and pretended as if you didn't know.

"George, maybe?"

"Na, he would've most probably given me something to make me go bald."

"Ha, true." you giggled, thinking about the image of Fred actually being bald but then removed it from your mind, deciding that he looked better with his ginger locks.

"Was it you, perhaps?" He asked again with a curious grin.

"What, me?" you gaped, as if you had absolutely no idea what he was talking about.

"Yes, you."

"I am utterly offended that you would suspect me, Fred Weasley."

"Oh, really? Then why did I receive a Christmas card from you with a picture of me on the front, asleep, with my hair tied up in bunches with pretty little ribbons and a title at the top saying 'Merry Christmas!'?"

"...Busted." you laughed at his little pouty face that had a grin of amusement hidden away beneath somewhere.

"I knew that it was you!"

"Then why did you ask?"

"I wanted to make conversation, I'm not very good at this formal stuff." He admitted a little shyly as his cheeks turned a little pink.

"What if you get married? What will happen then?" You asked with a chuckle. Fred thought for a moment with some sort of dreaminess painted onto his cheeky face as his eyes began to soften at the very thought.

"I would let my bride organise the whole thing if she wanted so that she will get the very special day she had dreamt of since she was a child." He said softly. You looked up at him in awe, finding him absolutely adorable at this moment.

"So, what if she wanted a big boring wedding that was incredibly dull and grey and said that it was 'traditional'. Also, she would force you to wear a neon pink wedding suit and made you dye your hair to a bright emerald green, you would oblige?" Fred nodded with a smile that could put candyfloss to shame by the lack of sweetness it possesses.

"If that is what she wanted, that is what I will go along with. Even if I have to dye my gorgeous hair." You giggled.

"Because you're worth it?"

"Hell yeah!" Fred laughed as he dramatically swished his hair with a posed pout which made him look utterly ridiculous. "That's if I am lucky enough to get married..."

"You will,"

"How can you be so sure, Fiona?" He asked with an eyebrow raised as he suspiciously examined your facial expression, as if annoying you into letting yourself spill a secret that you didn't want known. A bubbly laugh escaped your lips as Fred twirled you around during questioning, grinning cheekily as the night went on.

This continued for the whole boisterous night that was full of mischief, cheekiness and tons of dancing – slow and fast songs. You could see your best friend Ginny having the time of her life with Neville, although she truly wanted to go with Harry to the ball she is perfectly happy to have Neville's company. The minutes of time and space had seemed to decide to be rebellious and unfair as they soared by so quickly that you swore down to your own grave that you have only been present for at least an hour or so. 9:00pm, 10:00pm, 11:00pm. . . Past midnight, 12:15 to be exact. Fred checked the time and then checked the yawing girl beside him who rested her head against his shoulder due to the lack of energy inside her been drained out from dancing so much with him. He chuckled lightly as he barely moved his shoulder in a short sway to catch enough attention to hear what he is saying.

"Hey," He whispered next to your ear, his long glossy fiery red hair tickled the smooth skin of yours as he spoke. "You sleepy?"

"A little bit," You nodded with a yawn, shielding your mouth with your hand cupped over it whilst the yawn lasted. Fred smiled and thudded down his empty butterbeer glass down on the table behind you and smiled again.

"Shall we go then?" You nodded sluggishly in response as you yawned again. Reluctantly, you stood up onto your silver covered feet which were now slightly sore from how long you were wearing them for. Fred carefully wormed an arm around your waist as he slung his long jacket over his other shoulder, his bow tie had been loosened and was now just hanging freely below the collar of his clean white shirt. His care-free attitude shone brightly from him as he shrugged off a yawn that almost sounded from his lips. He guided you silently to the common room. It wasn't an awkward silence, more like a happy presence silence. The silent cold walk to the common room seemed endless as yet another yawn passed by your lips. Fred smirked. "I could carry you if you wanted," Your eyes seemed to snap open and had woken you up to a point of a dark blush settling on your cheeks at the idea.

"N-no, I'm fine, thanks!" A pout showed itself on your face as you heard Fred laugh at you, making the mood a tiny bit awkward. Thankfully, the common room was in sight and you two climbed into the empty dingy room that was barely lit by a few candles and the lazy fire crackling happily on its own. A warm rush of air gently brushed passed you as the portrait closed, blowing the warmth of the fire to thinly spread across the empty room. Fred walked beside you for the remainder of the walk to the bottom of the girl's dormitory staircase and smiled.

"Well, then,"

"M-hm." you hummed with a nod. Silence broke out again and this time it was a little more awkward, in fact, it was completely awkward seeing as you two were the only ones there in the common room and were unsure what to say or do next. Your eyes began to wonder, as did Fred's while you two desperately tried to think of something to say, even the simplest of words would do. You lifted your feet a little lazily to climb a couple of steps of the girl's dormitory stairs to look at Fred face-to-face, tiredly smiling towards him. You decided to break the silence. "Thank you, Fred. I had a wonderful time."

"Good," He nodded with a relieved smile, trying not to grin at the unusual sight of you being the exact same height as him, even if it was for only a short while. Annoyingly, another awkward silence had broken out, leaving the two of you standing there fishing around in your minds for something to say again.

But just as Fred was about to say something, a small dark green leaf slowly floated down between your faces innocently. Curious to know where this mysterious leaf came from, the two of you raised your heads in search of the position of which this tiny little leaf had fallen from. There, hanging above your heads was a small piece of mistletoe that very slowly grew the more you two looked at it. Hesitantly, both you and Fred slowly returned your gazes back to meet each other's eyes in a panicked questioning. He blinked hard when you looked at him and swallowed with a worried look on his face.

"Merry Christmas, Fiona." He whispered quietly as his eyes softened.

"Merry Christmas, Fred." You responded in an even quieter whisper towards the tall teenager that stood right in front of you. Fred swallowed yet again and cautiously edged forwards but hesitated a few inches away, fearful that you wouldn't return the feelings and would slap him right in the face for his action. But you remained still as your eyes flickered down to his soft looking lips that nervously twitched slightly while his eyes did the same. They looked down at your lips, then in your eyes, down to your lips, and then back to your eyes; uncertain as they eagerly decided what to do. Without further ado, Fred nervously closed the small gap between you with his tense fingernails digging into his palm.

The kiss was tense at first, as if uncertain that the other truly wanted this kiss to happen. But the tension quickly disappeared. Sparks instantly zapped as soon as your lips touch, sending the sparks into chills that shivered down your spines. The kiss was surprisingly gentle and softer than any type rose petal and sweeter than the warmest and frothiest butterbeer. Fireworks exploded everywhere inside of you the longer you kissed Fred. Small ones whizzed around in the pits and highest points of your stomach as huge explosions of butterflies burst through your heart, increasing its speed incredibly as your hand slowly raised to be placed behind Fred's neck. Time seemed to slowly cold over to a freeze at this point. Fred's hand shakily lifted to cup your reddening cheek, his hand a little clammy from the nerves he had swirling around inside of him. It strangely seemed as if your lips were made to be kissed by each other's as they moulded perfectly together, synchronised in every motion.

Unfortunately, you needed to take a breath of air, seeing as you both need it to survive. Reluctantly, Fred broke the kiss ever so slowly for he didn't want to lose any precious time of this sweet moment. His big brown eyes opened slowly to look into yours, which gradually looked into his once you had just absorbed what had just happened. Total silence was the only thing between you, except the very small gap between your faces. The two of you just soaked in this unexpected moment as you could still feel the light spark that remained electrified on your lips.

But before Fred could say anything next, the two of you could hear footsteps approaching, fast. The two of you were like glue, frozen completely as your eyes widened to think who it may be that'll catch you two together. Quickly, the two of you separated your faces and stood at a reasonable space away from each other so that there is no suspicion. Right then; Ginny, Neville, Dean and Seamus who was accompanied by a giggly Lavender and a bored looking George walked into the room with tired looks on their faces. The two of you made it look like you had just gotten there as well, acting like nothing had happened.

"Yes, well, goodnight, Fred. Thank you for a lovely evening."

"You're very welcome, my fair lady." Fred grinned a little but then shied away. His dark blush was still planted upon his pale face from the kiss you two shared together. He quickly covered up his mistake. "Goodnight, Fiona, sleep well!" And with an awkward nod from the two of you, speedy feet then fled up the two different staircases to escape further embarrassment. You ran up that staircase as fast as you could without falling over or hurting yourself, or to be questioned by your onlooking friends.

As soon as you reached your dormitory, you swung the door open and shut it with a loud thud right behind you before leaping onto your bed face-down. You hurriedly unbuckled the silver heels from your feet and threw them right to the ground once they had been removed. You sat there, stunned, shocked and confused. Your heart was racing as it beat uncontrollably against your chest, as if it was about to burst out at any moment. Your eyes were wide and your muscles were tense as you stared aimlessly at whatever was in front of you. Once you had relaxed a little and loosened down, you gradually came back to your senses. Your eyes gained movement again but your heart remained the same.

"Oh... my... God..." you whispered to yourself in disbelief and ran a slightly shaky hand through your hair slowly. "I fancy my best friend's brother!"


	12. Fireworks - a Fred Weasley Story, 12

"Oh God, oh God! Dammit, dammit, dammit!" You gushed in a loud whisper to yourself as you took a handful of hair and gripped it tightly with your fists, pulling at the roots of your once perfectly made up hair which was now beginning to come loose. Curses and stuttering words flowed carelessly loud from your lips, unaware of the upcoming footsteps that were soon to arrive at the door of your dormitory.

"Of all people, Fred. It _had _to be Fred! He's my best friend's brother! For goodness sake, what is wrong with me?!" You thudded your balls of fists hard against your head as if that was the solution, knocking some sense into you, literally. All of this seemed so messed up yet completely understandable to you. He made you feel nervous whenever he was nearby, self-conscious about how you looked – good or bad, he made you feel happy most of all and he always knew exactly how to cheer you up and how to put a smile back onto your face.

"Fiona?"

You gasped. Alerted by this sudden quiet voice you instantly sat up straight and tried to look normal to whoever that may be. It was Ginny, followed by an exhausted looking Lavender who yawned greater than a blue whale.

"Oh, hi guys. I didn't know that you were coming up so soon."

"So soon?" Ginny asked.

"Yeah," you responded, your lie shaken by your conscience screaming inside of your head to tell her.

"Fiona, we saw you come in a moment ago, with Fred. Remember?"

"Of course, silly me. Well then, goodnight!"

"Aren't you going to get changed?" she chuckled.

"Huh?"

"Is your dress your new pyjamas?" You quickly looked down to the clothing you wore and swept a blush, your words stuttered by your feeble attempts to cover up the most wonderful experience of your life which was now withheld from being known.

"Oh, no! Don't be silly, of course not! I just... like wearing it, is all."

"A-ha." Ginny hummed. As she walked around her bed her eyes remained focused on you, like she was inspecting you to find out the reason behind this odd behaviour. You noticed her Sherlock Holmes expression and began to feel rather uncomfortable with her staring at you so much, you wanted to get dressed but you felt like you couldn't with her watching you like this.

"Do you mind, Ginny? I would like to get dressed." She turned on the balls of her feet to face the other way, allowing the lot of you to get changed without anyone looking. After everyone had gotten changed into their colourful pyjamas, you all settled down into your beds, tired yet wanting to have a little chat before bed. You could feel Ginny's eyes on you. Staring at you with such interest that you could feel it through every layer of your skin.

"So," she began. "You and Fred,"

"What about us?" you sighed casually.

"What were you two up to?"

"Saying goodnight," you snorted, trying to keep your cool without giving anything away that you had kissed her brother. It was pretty obvious that you two were saying goodnight.

"Yes, but-"

"But, what?"

"If you would let me finish then I will say it!"

"Sorry." You said as you shuffled down the covers to keep yourself warm from the cruel cold of winter.

"Did you two-"

"Did you kiss?!" Lavender interrupted excitedly, her smile beaming from her face whereas a scowl was fixed upon Ginny's because she was beginning to get fed up with everyone butting into her speech and stopping her from talking. Your focus instantly twisted round to Lavender, your hair (now tied up in a loose ponytail) whipping you right in the face when you turned. You could feel your heart stop for a second and then it sprinted to full speed ahead, pounding hard against your chest as you remembered that loveable teenager kissing you not even ten minutes ago.

"W-what? Kiss? Don't be ridiculous, Lavender! Of course we didn't! He's just a friend, that's all. Plus he's Ginny's older brother!" You said with nerves leaking from every word.

"So?" The two of them said together. You then rolled your eyes over to Ginny in the bed next to yours, a little confused.

"Huh?"

"I don't mind if you date my brother. I'm the one who has been trying to set you up with him in the first place!" She laughed. You laughed dryly, unsure how to feel at this moment. Should you tell her? No, that would be too soon. You had only just discovered your secret feelings for Fred moments ago and weren't entirely certain whether or not they were true. You simply shrugged in reply with a weak smile, hoping that that would be enough to satisfy them for an answer.

"I don't really like anyone anyway," you lied smoothly. The two girls looked somewhat disappointed that you didn't like anyone. "Well, goodnight!" you quickly shuffled down inside of the bed covers and flipped them over your shoulder so that they just about reached the edge of your ear. You didn't really want to talk about it just yet, although, you knew that this would be one of those moments where you will never ever forget. It was a moment where only you and Fred could keep locked away in your minds or thrown around into the sky, allowing the whole world to know about your happiness.

Not far away, Fred and George were having a similar discussion. But this time, George actually knew the truth about what really happened.

"You _kissed _her?!" George whispered loudly, a whole face of excitement swept over his pale skin at the thought. Fred's cheeks went a crimson red as he nodded, changing into his identical pyjamas that George possessed. George sniggered at his brother's face and teased him by the bucket load. "Awww, Freddy, how sweet! You've got ya self a girlfriend!"

"No, I haven't." Fred said as he pulled on his chequered dark red and brown pyjama shirt, buttoning it up slowly one by one.

"Oh? Did she reject you or something?" said George.

"Well, technically no. I kissed her and she kissed me back, but I didn't ask her that." Fred admitted. He could feel his cheeks burn up like crazy as he remembered what he had done and could hear the muffled sniggering coming from George who was loving every minute of this.

"Ha!" George belted out, laughing at how funny this was to him. Fred scowled a little as he put on the remaining clothing to his matching pyjamas and plunged himself down onto his bed. He threw the covers open and slapped them back down to cover him while he banged his head down onto the fluffy white pillow with a face redder than a cherry red tomato, not from anger, but from total embarrassment. George realised that he went a little too far and tried to mend his mistake. "So, er, do you like her?" Fred shrugged.

"I dunno, maybe." Fred exhaled heavily and stared up at the ceiling in thought, keeping in conversation with his brother. "I mean, I like her, yeah. But..."

"But what?" George asked.

"She's our sister's best friend!" Fred said gloomily.

"So?"

"What do you mean, 'so?'?" Fred asked, followed by a tut. George rolled over to prop himself up onto his elbow, cushioned by his dressing gown that was half-hanging off of the bed.

"What's wrong with you going out with Fiona? Is it the age gap?"

"No,"

"It's only a couple of years. Better than the whole Oliver thing – which I will never speak of again!" George corrected himself quickly as he raised up his hands a little from receiving a death glare from Fred. "Besides," He began, lowering his hands back down to the mattress. "I know that you like her, a lot, Fred."

"What?" Fred said a little worriedly, turning his staring eyes over to the mirroring image of himself beside him. "How did you?"

"It's pretty obvious, mate." George chuckled. "Plus we're brothers, twins. I know what you know, I feel what you feel- I don't fancy Fiona!" George speedily corrected himself again and flinched slightly from the look that his brother was sending him. George then gave Fred a smile filled with sympathy. "Fred, Freddy, Fred, Fred. If you _really _like her, then you should tell her. Don't worry about Ginny," He sliced his hand down in the air with one swoop, as if he was blowing away the worry in the room.

"Did you _see _the way she acted when I hurt Fi-Fi? She petrifies me, George!" The two of them laughed as they remembered the troll-like anger Ginny possessed that day. Once the laughter had died down, George spoke up.

"So, what are you gonna do about it?"

"I dunno, George." Fred sighed, seeming happier than he was a few minutes ago. "I'll think about it firstly, then decide what to do about it." George nodded in agreement.

"Alright, then. Night night, Freddy."

"Night night, Georgey." Fred chuckled as he blew the candle out and settled down for the night whilst thinking about what he could possibly do next.


	13. Fireworks - a Fred Weasley Story, 13

Weeks went by with Fred putting off talking to you about the kiss gradually annoyed George more and more. Fred would say to him: 'I'm gonna do it! Yeah! I will! Right now! ...maybe later.' and George would go along with it, hoping that this was the best way. Good things come to those who wait, right? George knew that Fred's feelings for you were increasing each day and were crying out to him for you to know, sobbing for the truth to be shown.

George tried everything to make Fred more confident but often failed each time. Fred had almost been able to tell you once but chickened out at the last minute. George even suggested that they change their look a little to boost his brother's confidence. So they both got a hair cut, chopping off inches of their long glossy fiery red hair and lightening the weight off their heads and hopefully their shoulders, metaphorically speaking. This did work; for five minutes. Fred's confidence then plummeted down to the ground again, nailing itself their until he nourishes the seed of bravery into a huge towering tree of success.

Several attempts failed miserably. Fred would usually kick himself, literally, for not telling or asking you. The weeks soon turned into months. The months turned into half a year later, then into almost a year.

It was now Christmas day in the Black's old home (Order of the Phoenix) and the Weasley's, Harry, Hermione and you were gathering round the table for Christmas dinner. Even though it was a dark and dingy house with a tint of misery, this end of the kitchen seemed so warm and friendly; like it had been taken out of the Weasley's home and drawn into this end of the dark kitchen. A decorated Christmas tree with glittering Christmas ball-balls and a light dusting of snow settled across it as warm candles flickered nearby the branches, giving the room the cosy feeling that the Weasley's home always seems to give off. The plump Mrs Weasley helped Mr Weasley settle down into his seat due to his accident that Harry dreamt of. She kissed his balding head with a warm chuckle, patting his shoulder gently with her hand as she placed on a colourful cracker Christmas hat onto his head.

"Sit now!" She chuckled warmly and everyone began to sit down in their seats. You were sat down between Ron and Hermione whilst opposite Fred and George. George winked at you for some strange reason and gave you a cheeky grin. You smiled at him and shook your head, unsure about his weird behaviour. "Right now, presents!" Mrs Weasley chimed as she bent down to pull out a few colourfully wrapped presents from under the tree, ducking from a flying Santa Claus figurine that whizzed by merrily cheering 'Merry Christmas!'.

"And a nice big box for Ron!" Laughed Mr Weasley as his wife handed Ron a brightly coloured box with a ruby red ribbon tied across it. Ron laughed weakly and quickly opened up his present, in doubt that he had actually got anything and that his present was just a big box. Luckily, it was a hand-made jumper made by his mum. His face showed it all; 'What the bloody hell?' You noticed Hermione giggle silently to herself and you raised your eyebrow with a suspicious smile.

"Oh, shut up." She whispered barely, smiling sheepishly. Fred and George got their presents next and Mrs Weasley was deliberately pretending to mix them up by swapping them over and over again.

"There you are, Fred and George!" she chuckled as she handed the twins their presents. When she wasn't looking they swapped them with each other and began to rip open the Christmas wrapping paper. It was always sweet when Mrs Weasley mixed them up and hilarious when the twins confused her to the breaking point of just calling them 'twin number one' or 'twin number two', but Fred and George just swapped the numbers around and that method failed also.

"Fiona," she called merrily and handed you a brightly wrapped present in emerald green wrapping paper tied together with a shiny red ribbon tied in a bow. "Merry Christmas dear, lovely to have you with us." She smiled.

"Thank you," you beamed and gave her a quick hug whilst thanking her. Excitedly, you began to tear open the layers of paper that prevented you from seeing the gift that lay waiting inside to be discovered. Inside was a knitted grey and plum coloured stripy scarf of different shades, remembering that it was roughly the same colour as your Yule Ball dress (according to Fred it was the most elegant shade of purple he had ever seen). You smiled and thanked her again for the wonderful and thoughtful gift. The Christmas dinner and desert was one of the best you had ever had and one of the largest you have ever had, Mrs Weasley always makes too much when it comes to special days. George began to pull some crackers with Fred as did Ron and Mr Weasley. Every single one of them exploded a huge bang and spat out bursts of glitter as the unique gift fell from his prison of exploding paper.

"Bet you want the one with the mistletoe in don't you, Freddy?" George muttered next to his brother's ear with a wicked grin. Amongst the large amount of scarlet red, emerald green and glittering gold Christmas crackers there was only one that contained a small bunch of mistletoe inside and whoever got that present in the cracker would have to kiss the person they pulled it with. Fred's ears turned a little red and he frowned.

"Shut up," he muttered back. The awkwardness between you and Fred was high enough without having made to kiss each other by getting the mistletoe cracker. Fred wished he knew which one it was so that he could give it to Ron to pull with someone else. However, he also secretly wanted to get the mistletoe cracker and pull it with you to maybe relieve the two of you with the awkwardness that shadows over you. But no matter how hard you tried, no one can tell what was inside. Every single one of them weighed the same and sounded the same when you rattled it for a clue. You pulled one of the crackers with Ginny and it exploded into several mini fireworks of numerous colours that took form of a snowman in the air.

"Oh, wow!" you breathed. "Are there anymore like those?"

"Yeah, loads!" Ginny said excitedly. "Last year I got a firework in a shape of a robin that sang to me, it was so sweet! Ron got a snowball in one that chased him around the room until it splattered him in the face." You both howled with laughter as at this precise moment, Ron had gotten the snowball cracker again and began to run around the house screaming with the snowball on his trail. "There's at least three of those, best not get them, eh?" she laughed.

"What else is there?" you asked excitedly, eager to know what other wonders lay inside these mysterious and unpredictable crackers.

"There is one, and only one that has mistletoe inside." said George as he and Fred pulled open another cracker that had an extremely long rainbow coloured slinky that must have been at least three metres long when stretched out properly. Glitter was also burst, floating down to the ground and vanishing a few inches before it landed.

"Mistletoe?" you asked. George nodded as Fred collected up the long slinky that snaked around their feet.

"Mistletoe," George nodded. "Whoever gets the cracker with the mistletoe inside has to kiss the person they pulled it with. It's more fun this way, 'cause then you have no idea who you'll have to kiss! Right, Freddy?"

"Right." Fred said plainly, plonking down the slinky on the long old table. Ron came trudging back into the jolly room wiping slushy ice from his face, having being finally hit by the snowball that chased him.

"Oh, Ron! Did you get the snowball again?" Mr Weasley and Harry laughed at Ron's annoyed face as Hermione and Mrs Weasley pulled another cracker with another mini firework display hidden inside. This time it was a beautiful bright golden star that shone brightly for five seconds before poofing into a ball of golden glitter that fluttered down to the ground.

"Hm." Ron grunted miserably, every year he seemed to get at least one of the snowballs in the crackers and prayed that he didn't get the second or third.

"Cheer up, Ronald!" Hermione said cheerfully as she placed a dusty rose coloured paper hat onto her head. "There's plenty more crackers here."

"Indeed!" chuckled Mrs Weasley warmly as she carefully threw some more at those who were empty-handed. Harry caught a scarlet red cracker and pulled it with Ginny, George received a glittering golden cracker and pulled it with his dad and she threw one over to Fred. The emerald green cracker reflected the warm fluttering candlelight in the lampshade nearby against the paper. Fred stood there for a little bit before he smiled down at you.

"Fancy a go?" He asked, trying to act casual like nothing has ever happened between the two of you.

"Sure," you smiled as you gripped onto one end and Fred the other. He grinned and counted down.

"Three... two... one... BANG!" The cracker exploded into the biggest ball of silver and green glitter yet, swirling around in the air in a synchronised performance that took your breath away. As you lived amongst Muggles and often spent Christmas with your parent's Muggle friends you only had the normal crackers so this was just a complete change for you, and you loved every second of it. As the glitter began to thin, it was getting clear what the gift was inside. Resting on the palm of Fred's hand was the small piece of mistletoe, lightly dusted with a thin layer of silver glitter. You could hear the sniggers coming from Ron and George and even Mr Weasley from seeing his son's face turn a darker shade of pink.

"Oh, look! Fred and Fiona got the mistletoe!" Hermione said as she heard the sniggers. George and Ron began to chant 'kiss, kiss, kiss!' over and over again with the contribution of Mr Weasley as well, who was told off by his wife.

"Arthur! They don't have to if they don't want to!"

"But it's tradition!" Ginny whined a little. "They got the cracker with the mistletoe inside!" Fred swallowed the lump that formed inside of his throat, feeling that the awkwardness had increased yet again.

"L-lips or cheek?" he asked.

"Well, that doesn't really matter does it Freddy? Not after-ow!" George laughed in slight pain from Fred's foot crushing down hard on his, giving him the idea that Fred would hurt him further if he even let the slightest bit slip about him kissing you after the Ball.

"Whatever you want, dear." Mrs Weasley said with a warm chuckle, handing Mr Weasley a bite-size mince pie decorated with a golden-baked shortcrust pastry star on the top of it. Fred nodded and looked down at you whilst biting down a little on his lower lip, unsure. You weren't as short as you was last year and had grown a few inches, making you about his shoulder height but still shorter than him of course. Fred went for the safe option and kissed your cheek quickly, his cheeks flaming in a sheet of red shyness. You felt like that you had to return the favour too, considering you broke off the other half of the cracker. Before he was too far away to reach, you quickly pecked his cheek and scuttled away as you felt your cheeks burn hotter than a dragon's flame.

Later, about eight in the evening, everyone began to settle down into a sleepy daze. Yawns could be heard here and there and some even went to bed early. Soon enough, only the last remaining few were either sneaking in some other treats or sluggishly dragging themselves up the stairs.

"Right, I'm off to bed. Coming you two?" Hermione yawned as she stood lazily to her feet.

"Yeah," Ginny yawned also, trying to stay awake by rubbing her eyes with the backs of her knuckles. "Fiona?"

"Hm? Na, I'm going to stay up a little longer." They both nodded and quietly descended up the long stairs that seemed to go on forever, their feet lightly stomping against the wooden flooring as they dragged themselves to the room the three of you shared together. You smiled and shook your head but then yawned a little too. Your feet then stood you up to stand upright and trailed you across to the kitchen to look for Freddy, your adorable little cat that seems to run off all the time. As you turned round the corners of the dark and dingy house, you were awakened by the sound of a mug being dropped too hard on the table, followed by a small voice cursing beneath their breath. Curious, you decided to find out the voice behind the words. There, slouched in his seat with his feet up on another was George with a slanted blue Christmas hat just hanging onto his red hair.

"Alright, George?" You greeted with a smile. "Have you seen Freddy at all?"

"Why, I am right here my lovely!"

"I meant my cat, silly." You chuckled, rolling your eyes.

"Not me? Aw, shame." He winked.

"I know it's you George, you know that I can tell you and Fred apart easily."

"But I'm Fred."

"No, you're George, _George._" you said as you folded your arms.

"How can you tell, my sweet?" He cooed mischievously as he tilted back his paper hat back to its rightful place.

"Well," you sighed. "You and Fred are completely different, George. No matter how identical you two are. Plus Fred calls me 'Fi-Fi' and 'Love' sometimes; whereas you call me other names to mock me and Fred, indicating that we have some sort of 'relationship'." You said with the bunny-ears movement with both of your fingers to show the sarcasm.

"Aw, I didn't know you cared for me that way." He chuckled.

"Oh, ha ha, George. That's another thing, Fred always has this glisten in his eye whenever he teases or mocks me. He has this cheekiness in his tone and a different kind of warmth in his laugh that just makes you smile. He has this sort of... quirkiness to him that I can't stop thinking about. And he's always up for a laugh and is normally always smiling. That's another thing about the two of you, I could never understand how you two can be this merry and cheerful all the time. How you're always persistent in achieving laughter!" George begins to grin, growing a little more each second. For he can see who was approaching the kitchen absent-mindedly.

"Aw, I'm touched."

"Give it up, George!" you laughed. "I know that it's you and that you're not Fred."

"Yes I am!"

"No you're not! I can tell because Fred is far more understanding, caring, really sweet and adorable whenever he gets embarrassed and he is a particularly a good kisser-" Your hands automatically slap across your mouth as soon as you realised what you had just let slip carelessly.

"So, that's what you think of me, is it?" A voice said behind you. Your whole body froze in shock. Horrified, you slowly turned to see who that was behind you even though you had a very good idea to who it was. There, leaning up against the kitchen doorway was Fred. A smile beamed from his face as he looked down at you, his cheeks turning into a darker shade of pink after hearing what you had said. You stared up at him with your mouth hanging open a little from your brain being wiped from any possibilities that can help this moment. Without any other ideas in your head, you resulted to the last option and whipped out your wand from your pocket.

"OBLIVIATE!" You shouted quickly and accidentally poked the point of your wand right into one of Fred's eyes, blinding him for a few seconds while you fled from the room, dropping your wand.

"Ow!" Said Fred as his hand swiftly flipped up to shield his eye from the tingling pain. You then dashed up the old wooden stairs as fast as you could, horrified. Fred scooped up your fallen wand off of the floor and blinked a few times to regain his vision. Once he could see after a few blinks, Fred chased up after you, leaping over three steps at a time (he can do it because he's so tall). "Fi-Fi! Fi-Fi, wait!" But you didn't listen, you couldn't. How could you? You had just told him exactly how you felt about him right there and then and were feeling as if you could die from embarrassment any minute.

However, Fred was faster and soon managed to catch up with you and grabbed onto your shoulder gently yet firmly, halting you in one of the many floor's corridors. He continued to hold you in his secure grip, making sure that you won't flee from him again. He raised his index finger up in the air briefly and lowered it as he took a few deep breaths to get his breath back. You took this opportunity to try and escape from this tall teenager but he gently dragged you back.

"Oh no, no, no, no! You're not running away this time." Fred said with an low-breath chuckle. His eyes began to soften and he loosened his hand that was holding your shoulder, releasing you from the trap that clamped you down in your place. You could feel the once moist layer of your tongue begin to dry out like a lonesome plant in the middle of a hot dried up desert disappear slowly. Your bright eyes were fixed upon the chocolate brown ones that stared right down at you with mind-boggling confusion and demand.

"..." Your mouth cracked open the very slightest but then retreated back into sealing itself shut. Fred knew that he had to be the one to break the ice here. A heavy sigh flew past his lips and swirled in the air around him. You could catch the sweet scent of cookies and chocolate drifting up your nostrils, almost tasting the mouth watering treat as if you were having one at this moment.

"Do you like me?" Fred asked simply, getting to the point. You stood there in a silenced stun, confused and unsure about what you have to say. "Do you like me?" He repeated, wanting a definite, precise and truthful answer.

"Yes," You replied, unaware that your lips had started mouthing and speaking words for you without realising first. You decided that this was the best time to be honest with him. "Yes, I do." Fred smiled sweetly and suddenly leant down in smiles to kiss you. It was a short kiss, but it was sweeter than any other.

"At least now I don't have to worry about you not liking me in return."

"What?" You whispered, too shocked to raise your voice the slightest bit due to the surprise kiss.

"Isn't it obvious?" He chuckled.

"Well," you began. "From the staring, the moods and the constant cheesy grins and sighs... I got a slight idea." Fred laughed lightly.

"I should just come out and say it now, shouldn't I?"

"Say what?" You asked in confusion, curious to know what he was going to say.

"Will you go out with me and be my girlfriend, Miss Holloway?" He asked a little cheesily, grinning shyly. You couldn't help but laugh at his brave yet shy attempt to ask you this daunting question. Happily, you nodded. "But,"

"But, what?" You asked cautiously, hoping that you wouldn't regret that.

"We don't tell anyone,"

"Are you ashamed of me, Fred Weasley?" You asked whilst folding your arms, grinning in slight confusion.

"Oh, no!" He said quickly, hoping that he didn't offend. "I just thought that it would be fun to see how long it takes the others to find out about us. Well, except George. He knows."

"Oh," you nodded. You then thought of your best friend, Ginny. It would be harsh to keep such a secret from her, especially as you're dating her brother also. But on the other hand, she does claim to spot everything instantly, so it would be fun to see how long it takes for her to figure out this mystery. After some thoughts and pondering hums, you nodded lightly in agreement. "Sure, it'll be fun."


	14. Fireworks - a Fred Weasley Story, 14

After the Christmas holidays ended, you couldn't wait to get back to Hogwarts to see all of your friends and brand new secret boyfriend again. You hurriedly made your way down the station with your fluffy ginger cat Freddy cradled in your arms, snoozing away like it was curled in front of the warm fire back home.

"Hurry, Fiona! You're going to be late!" Your mother shouted over the heads of others that were blocking her path. Her voice managed to surf its way around them and flow into your ears, just about managing to hear it.

"I wouldn't have been if Freddy here would have gotten down from the top of the wardrobe!" You tutted down at your purring cat. You smiled and scratched his ear. There were literally only minutes to spare until the train left and your poor feet were being trampled and stood on by other people who were trying to see where their child was sat so they could wave them off.

"Fiona!" A voice cried. "Fiona!" It repeated again. You could see a sudden hand wave in the air and Mrs Weasley squeeze past the grumpy group of pure-blooded wizards who scowled at her presence, brushing off their robes with their clean hands as if she as covered them in bits of dirt. You felt disgusted at the way they treated them. They weren't filth. In fact, you thought that those snobby wizards were filth. Their pride smothering their high-nosed faces.

She chuckled in a jolly way when she finally got to you, Mr Weasley following close behind.

"Hello!" You smiled happily in greeting, hugging her whilst making sure that she wasn't smothered by the fluffy ball in your arms. "Mum, dad, the-"

"Weasley's the name, friendship is my game!" Sang Mr Weasley.

"Honestly dad, you're worst than George in the morning." Ron groaned.

"Hey! I have a lovely singing voice if you should know, dear brother of mine!" Said George as he pouted dramatically with risen eyebrows. Your parents warmly shook the Weasley's by the hand. Your father was a posh man but he didn't look down on families like the Weasley's. He wasn't like the Malfoy's, thankfully.

"Hello there," Your father said, releasing his hand from his jacket pocket to shake Mr Weasley's hand. "Good to meet you."

"No, the pleasure is all ours!" Chuckled Mrs Weasley. She quickly checked the clock (only just managing to see it because she wasn't the tallest of people) and gasped. "You're all going to be late! Hurry now, hurry! You have two minutes!"

"Your boyfriend is already inside, most probably. He had the wonderful job of assisting young Ginny into putting the luggage into the compartment." George said in some sort of whisper, even though it wasn't any different from his usual speaking voice. You smiled.

"Cheers, George."

"Oh, how he's missed you!" George sighed dramatically, swooning. "I've never seen my Freddy so happy! It brings a tear to my eye!" George wiped the corner of his eye with a dry clean tissue, grinning and trying to stop himself from laughing the whole way through. "BUT!" He then said loudly, making you jump. "How will our lovers manage?! How will they be able to hold each other in their arms without having any suspicions raised? Will they get through it? Or will they-"

"Alright, that's enough George!" You laughed, elbowing him a little hard in the ribs as you climbed onto the train with Freddy sat on one of your shoulders. His tail swished around behind him, flicking George a few times with a smug grin of his pointy teeth. "Anyway, only you know about us so keep it quiet. Otherwise you're in for a walloping!" You threatened with a light thwack of his arm.

You and George ventured down the tight narrow space of the thin corridor in search of a place to sit.

"By the way," Whispered George as he edged along with you. "We've been testing out our products on students and trying to think of some to prank them with. Care to help?"

"I'll think of a good list-full," you nodded.

"Great," George thanked with a ruffle of your hair which went straight back into place. After a few short moments of tight squeezing and sliding through the ridiculously narrow corridor you heard Fred greet the two of you. Both him and Ginny were sat inside a compartment on their own, one on either side. George slid past you and flopped himself down to his little sister, purposely having to make you sit next to Fred (even though you didn't mind). George grinned, knowing that Ginny still didn't have the slightest clue about you and Fred.

"Hello, Fred." You said, acting like you normally would. Fred smiled with a nod.

"Alright-"

"So," Ginny interrupted her brother a little rudely. Fred had accidentally tripped Ginny up earlier when she was getting on the train and fell flat on her face. It was an accident but Ginny wouldn't have it. Fred did apologise loads of times to her but she just got up and left. She had been ignoring him since you and George joined the two of them to Fred's relief, he had someone to talk to now. Ginny leant forward a little from her seat, eager to make conversation. "George told me that you liked someone, Fiona." Your head immediately shot up. You could see the excitement on Ginny's face and the silent snigger coming from George's. You could feel Fred's glare at George intensify as he knew where George was going with this.

"O-oh, well... he is mistaken, Ginny. I don't like anyone..." You lied, although it was technically true; you did like Fred, but now you think you love him. You didn't entirely know but the feelings were mutual. Ginny frowned, suspicious.

"What? Why not?"

"What do you mean why not?" You asked, fidgeting a little beside Fred nervously. "I don't have to like anyone."

"Yeah, George doesn't like anyone." Fred said.

"Or do I?!" George gasped dramatically, slapping his hand across his mouth and squinting his eyes shut. He then laughed and shook his head. "Na, I don't. But what about you Freddy-"

"No,"

"Re-"

"Yes." Fred ended the short conversation between him and George, scowling harshly over at him whilst Ginny looked out of the window briefly. Ginny sighed heavily. The boredom creeped around the room quietly, slithering around the open air above your heads and bouncing off of the walls. After an hour or so, Ginny brought the conversation back up again.

"You _must_ like someone Fiona," Ginny whined a little childishly, her head lazily drooped in her hand. You exhaled slowly as you thought to yourself. Fred's foot then tapped the ground twice casually. This sort of action would just breeze by others as normal but you and Fred knew that these sorts of questions will pop up now and then and decided to come up with a simple signal technique: tap twice for yes, tap thrice for no. Fred had his arms crossed on his stomach and his head was leant up against the edge of the window so that he could watch everyone in the room and also try and spot anything interesting outside that would entertain him for a short while.

"Well," You began, getting Fred's opinion through signal. "Fine, yeah. I do." Ginny squealed excitedly and beamed a smile.

"Can I guess who it is?"

"Er, sure. It'll pass the time." You nodded. 'Why not?' You thought to yourself and shuffled back in your seat to sit upright, resting your hands carelessly on your knees. She nodded and began to think, humming gently to herself as she tapped the edge of her fingers on her thighs.

"Err... do I know him?"

"Yes, very well, I think." You nodded.

"Is he cute?" Ginny asked. If the boy you liked wasn't cute, he wouldn't get Ginny's approval. Ginny always judged who people liked but would understand after a while why they did like them in the first place. You smiled and nodded, leaning your head back against the comfy seat afterwards.

"Yes," You swore that you saw the corner of Fred's mouth curl into a slight grin. His reflection winked at you and then whizzed off somewhere else just in case anyone saw. Even George grinned because he knew exactly who you were talking about.

"Is he in your year? In my year? Is he tall? Is he smart? Is he funny?" Ginny gushed.

"No, no, very, reasonably and hilarious." You replied as you described Fred. Fred nodded with a tilt to the head, silently agreeing. Ginny noticed his nod and narrowed her eyes towards him.

"...What do you know, Fred?"

"...Hm?" Fred hummed, looking up from his previous focus point in the distance over to his sister sat opposite him. Ginny sighed in annoyance and repeated herself, something which she doesn't like to do.

"I said," she huffed. "What do you know about this, Fred?"

"Me? Well," Fred said while pretending to think.

"He's very daft." George said.

"Not as daft as you!" Fred snapped back, smiling wickedly.

"I bet he is!" George poked out his tongue like a child would in a tantrum towards Fred, trying his best not to laugh.

"I bet he isn't!"

"Guys, guys! Seriously! Who is this person then?" Ginny raised her voice as she lifted her hands up in the air to stop this pathetic argument. Silence fell once again, awkward silence. Ginny growled angrily. "Oh, come off it! Just tell me!" Thankfully, the train came to a halt at Hogwarts station and everyone began to bustle on out. You, Fred and George all exchanged looks and without further ado, sprinted out of the compartment and fled for your lives from the angered student left in the compartment on her own. She stormed out of the train and sliced through the thick crowd of students, muttering to herself.


	15. Fireworks - a Fred Weasley Story, 15

"Do you think she's mad?" You whispered to Fred who was sat beside you at the table, shovelling in a spoonful of mash potato into his mouth. Ginny was sat opposite you a few seats away near George, stabbing the sharp points of her fork into her chopped carrots. Fred shook his head.

"Na," he swallowed. "She'll get over it. Anyway, it's not like we did anything wrong."

"Meaning?" You asked as you prodded the piece of broccoli sat lonesomely on one side of your almost empty plate with your fork.

"If she wants to know what's going on, she should try harder." Fred grinned, popping in another spoonful of mashed potato into his mouth. George could tell that this was the perfect moment to cause more mayhem and decided to act right now. He shifted closer to his little sister and lowered his voice.

"Hey, hey, Ginny,"

"What, George?" She huffed, sounding irritable as she kept her eyes heavily focused on the carrot she stabbed more aggressively.

"Well Ginny, my dear sister. I have a little secret that is worth knowing and will get your ears a-ringing." George said with a nod and a grin. His attempts to make her laugh failed miserably as her frown only just increased.

"George, if you're not going to tell me properly then don't bother!" She growled a little too loudly. This caught Fred's attention and his eyes swam with panic. He hurriedly tried to think up of a way to distract everyone and to prevent George from telling Ginny that you and him were in a relationship. He shifted and shifted on his spot, clenching his fork in his hand, turning his knuckles white from the tight grip. He saw George begin to lean down to her height, getting closer and closer to revealing the secret truth. Fred shot up like a bullet from his seat and took action, shouting at the top of his lungs.

"FOOD FIGHT!" He then threw a large clump of mashed potato right into George's face, splattering both his brother and sister right on target. Every student in the hall quickly followed, throwing food at each other and across the tables to the other houses. Quite a lot of the Slytherins got baked potatoes thrown at their heads, knocking them down to the floor and making them take cover in fear, clenching onto large silver pallets for protection. They were the main targets for closer-range students, lobbing large handfuls of food flying at the person they hated the most. Malfoy got quite a lot of food thrown at him, but not nearly as much as Pansy. People yelled at her as the food splattered across her once clean robes.

"Enough food for ya, Pansy?!" Laughs echoed the howls and hoots around the large hall, even some of the teachers threw some food. Poor Hagrid was a target for the younger years, getting food stuck in his long bushy beard.

"What the hell, Fred?!" laughed George as he tried to return the favour to Fred, missing him by inches several times. To be fair, he had mashed potato clumped in his fringe; blocking his eyesight and preventing him from aiming properly. Fred dodged each and every attack, laughing as everyone tried to ignore the raging bellows of Professor Snape that were hardly audible.

"You know, what!" He laughed. George shrugged innocently and thrust a cream pie into Ron's face. Ron squealed and shook the cream off of him with a scowl fixed upon him. He scooped up a large piece of jelly that wobbled uncontrollably in his cupped hands, shaking all over the place whilst he tried to throw it to George. George ducked out of the way and the jelly smacked Hermione right in the cheeks, reddening it as her mouth hung open wide.

"You'll pay for that one, Ronald!" She shouted and picked up the gravy container completely filled with warm bubbling gravy.

"That'll burn me!" Ron said in fear.

"No it wont! Just smother you in revenge!" She laughed wickedly and chased after Ron like the snowball that chased him at Christmas. At this moment, Ron would happily have the snowball chase after him instead of an angry Hermione. Ron screamed the entire time he fled from Hermione, trying to swim through the bustling food-covered students. Just then, a large piece of beef came hurdling towards you. Swiftly, you ducked for cover beneath the long table; picking out the few bits of food in your hair and flicked it onto the blanket of food that covered the floor. You couldn't help but laugh loudly at the fearful first years also taking cover under the table, scared about being hit hard by those older than them.

Just then, after your laughter had died down, you saw a large pair of familiar feet jumping near where you were crouched. Their slightly scuffed school shoes were covered in all sorts of food; cream, gravy, pumpkin juice. Bravely, you crawled over (still underneath the table) to get a proper look of who these familiar feet belong to. Your hands squished into pieces of fallen cake and vegetables that lay helplessly across the floor, motionless and crumpled. You shrivelled up your nose but then snorted, flicking it off with one flick of the hand. Quietly, you crawled over to where the feet now stood and craned your head to one side to look up at the person who you thought it was. You grinned from being correct and you were about to scoop up some ice cream in your hand when they ducked down below and bashed their head in the process.

"OW!" Fred whined in pain and clutched his forehead in his hand. He took cover below when he saw who was in front of his face. He winked and grinned cheekily. "Alright, love?" He crouched down onto his knees and had to squeeze under the table from being so tall.

"Tut, tut, Freddy, starting a food fight!" You laughed as you picked out a piece of sliced strawberry from his hair and flicked it to the ground. Fred chuckled and shrugged.

"Was all I could think of before that blabber mouth told Ginny about us! Luckily, splattered his face just in time!" The two of you laughed and jumped from an empty goblet clattering down to the ground and rolling away. Fred had bashed his head against the thick wooden table while he jumped and he bit his lip down with a muffled grunt from trying not to say bad words, no matter how much it hurt.

"Aww, did little Freddy bash his head?" Cackled George. He was also taking a short breather under the table a few feet away on the opposite side of the Gryffindor table. Everything had gotten more frantic as the houses broke out into war, some teaming up with each other to take down the Slytherins in a pile of food filled with shame. Fred scowled with a laugh.

"Yes, blabber mouth!"

"Getting a little cheeky snog are we?" George laughed, winking. Fred threw a spoon at George's nose and it bounced right off it, tumbling to the ground beside George. "Hey! Might as well, no one's looking."

"Shut up, George." You and Fred said together between chuckles. But then Fred beamed a grin.

"Actually, that's not a bad idea." Swiftly, he hooked your lips upon his. Deciding that this was the best opportunity to steal a kiss from you when everyone else was busy. But, the two of you were interrupted by a shocked, surprised screech of a gasp.

"WHAT THE-?!" You and Fred split apart faster than tearing a piece of thin parchment into two. Your heads swivelled round to reluctantly see where that screech came from. Although, you had a pretty good idea who it was. And, yet again, your guess was correct. There on her knees a meter away from you three was Ginny, stretching her arm out at its full length and pointed at the two of you, her mouth gaping open in a large 'O' shape. Her eyes were wide and her expression was mixed, a lot. Clearly she was shocked, but you feared with what was about to happen, not knowing what lies ahead. "YOU – WHAT?! WHAT'S GOING ON?! I bet _you _knew about this all along, didn't you, George?!" She yelled to an onlooking George.

"Aw, this isn't fair!" George wailed, laughing. "They're the ones who dated behind your back and I get the blame for it-!"

SPLAT!

Ginny had thrust a large pile of ice cream, jelly and pieces of pumpkin pasties in the centre of George's face, smothering him with large amounts of food. George's chokes were muffled by the clumps of food and he tried to flap the food off of his face. Both yours and Fred's face fell with horror, pale and shaken with fear.

"Screw Death Eaters," Fred gulped. "I'm more scared of her."


	16. Fireworks - a Fred Weasley Story, 16

Ginny was outraged that you and Fred didn't tell her that you two started dating, or George. She refused to talk to either of you.

Fred ended up getting detention for starting the food fight, a whole months worth of it. Secretly, you tagged along using an invisibility charm for when Snape was watching him, but as soon as he left you spent some time with Fred and kept him company. Whether that was snogging, play fighting or just sitting with one another.

He hated having to be apart from you, even if it was for an hour a day. This cuddly, soft side to Fred was a little unexpected to you because you thought that he would always be the prankster you've always known him as.

Others also thought that once Fred had gotten himself a girlfriend he would've become more calm and less hyperactive all the time. But they were wrong, of course. You didn't want Fred to change anyway. Who would want the extremely loveable redhead to be less himself?

Fred was sat in Snape's office with one of his hands lazily holding the weight of his head whilst his other leaked boredom as it wrote down several lines onto the piece of never ending parchment.

"It's your fault," You whispered, along with a light giggle. Fred pouted.

"Yeah, but if I didn't start it Ginny would've found out that we've been going out with each other for two months, eleven days, three hours, twenty seven minutes, aaand... forty-five seconds!" You stared at him with a raised eyebrow, unable to stop yourself from smiling at his cheeky chuffed grin that was worn on his pale face.

"You've been counting?"

"Well, sort of," Fred said honestly as he raised his wrist to reveal a dark brown, slightly worn out leather watch which had a small silver button on the side of it. Fred clicked this silver button lightly with his thumb which swirled the numbers around on the clock's face, changing into something else. After a few seconds, the numbers began to align. This time it showed several numbers. "I've added an extra feature to remind me how long we've been together. Bit weird, I know. But it cheers me up whenever a number increases."

"You know, some might think that this is rather sweet," You began.

"I know, right?" Fred grinned even more but the grin was very quickly wiped off of his face as he quickly responded. "Do you find it strange? Weird? Odd? Stupid-"

"No, no, no! Of course I don't!" You chuckled, kissing Fred's cheeks gently while brushing your fingers against his fiery red fringe. "I was just surprised that you were-"

"Clever enough to do something like this?"

"Will you stop interrupting me?!" You laughed loudly as Fred continuously teased you by interrupting every new sentence you started. But after a while, he did stop, not wanting to annoy you too much. Fred still had a good lot of lines to write to both of your dismay and he could whine like crazy when he didn't want to do something.

"Fiona?"

"Yes, Fred?" You asked, hoping that you wouldn't learn to regret that by the way he said your name.

"You know you love me,"

"Keep talking," You tutted as you patted his head like you would to a dog. You smirked at the way Fred always got annoyed and needy whenever you ignored him, which was quite a lot of fun most days. Fred pouted but nuzzled the tips of your fingers gently with his nose, smiling hugely.

"...Actually that was all I was going to say-"

"You want me to write the rest of your lines, don't you?" You chuckled as you witnessed the sudden look of surprise wiped across Fred's face, a tiny bit shocked that you could read his mind so well. "I know you, Fred! And no."

"But my hand huuurts..." Fred whined a little childishly. Deliberately, Fred turned on his adorable, irresistible side. His big brown eyes instantly melting into a large pool of puppy-eyed cuteness as he tilted his head into the perfectly fitted slot of your neck. He pouted his lips into a small, quiet whimper of a puppy's, but far more cuter than any breed. Fred pawed at his now 'limped' hand with his nose briefly before turning his shining puppy dog eyes back to yours, locking them securely shut.

"Oh, no!" You chuckled, refusing to allow him the satisfaction of getting what he wanted. "Not the puppy dog eyes!"

Fred tried to stop himself from smiling, not wanting to ruin the absolute perfect way to winning you over.

"No! No, they won't work this time!" You squealed as he nuzzled the crook of your neck gently, kissing the warm skin before looking back up at you, continuing his puppy act. Idiotically, you looked down to your boyfriend's face only to just see how good his act was this time. You could feel your heart melt like butter in the hot sun, withering away into a vulnerable piece of yourself which Fred could easily hook into his hands. In a matter of seconds, you couldn't help yourself. You kissed the unbelievably good actor annoyingly and ruffled his red hair thoroughly with your fingers, smiling irritably at how soft his hair was and how easy he can win you over with those incredibly gorgeous chocolate eyes of his. "...Fine!"

"Thank you!" Fred grinned triumphantly and kissed you once more, kissing your cheek also, just to stay on your good side. A just-about-there smile creeped onto your face as he immediately wrapped his two free hands around your waist, holding you close to him inside of his arms. Fred frequently requested hugs from you, however he felt. But he always showed his gratitude and thankfulness clearly. Including how much he loves you too, although, you haven't fully heard him say that he did yet. The two of you said to yourselves inside your head that you would until the other one said it; which could take a while, seeming as it took Fred a very long time to just admit how he feels.

It was always tough for the first to say 'I love you' no matter how much it was eating you inside. This was another thing George teased Fred about; saying that he has a heart devoted to make you smile and happy every waking second of your life, including the thing which you're allowed to do on your next birthday. This would often lead to George getting a punch in the arm and a large purple V bruise.

"How can you do my handwriting so well?" Fred asked curiously as he watched you accurately write his handwriting to the exact detail. You shrugged.

"I'm a good forger, I guess." You smiled. Twenty minutes later, you finished writing the rest of Fred's lines for the day and even your hand hurt a little.

"There," you said, dropping the quill down onto the repetitive line-filled parchment. "Done, happy?"

"Very, thank you!" Fred chuckled a little sleepily. You rolled your eyes as you heard him yawn slightly.

"Come on, sleepy head." You said gently with a light nudge, elbowing him lightly to prevent him from falling asleep in one of the classrooms where you didn't particularly like to stay in. Reluctantly, Fred let go of you. His arms sluggish and lazy as he tried to keep the two of you there, not wanting to move from this comfy position. With a laugh and a slight struggle to worm yourself out of Fred's long arms, you managed to free yourself and drag Fred onto his feet.

You both quietly left the darkening room and shut the door a little louder than planned. Fred jumped out of his skin and laughed coolly, trying to pretend that he wasn't at all scared. Fred tutted and ran his free hand through his fiery red hair, avoiding eye contact with you for the first minute or two to repel embarrassment. And with that, you squeezed his hand gently in yours before you both began to silently walk down the spooky dark corridors.


	17. Chapter 17

You and Fred took longer to walk back to the common room than you usually do, a whole twenty minutes in fact. Which doesn't sound much, but your regular timings of walking to the common room were approximately seven minutes, five if you had to double your pace because of Fred's long legs. Just one of his steps was about two steps for you!

"I'm not walking too fast for you, am I?" Fred asked, seeming to have read your mind.

"Hm? Oh, ha ha. Another short joke again?" You laughed sarcastically. Fred smirked.

"Hey, I think your height is adorable."

"But I've grown a couple of inches since fourth year! Quite a growth spurt!" You protested, defending yourself. It was true, you had grown a couple of inches but you were still shorter than Fred. No one could compete against the twins in the height compartment. Well, Neville maybe. That boy has grown, a lot!

"I know, I know," Fred laughed, kissing the top of your head with a smile. "Oh, snap! Snape alert!" Fred gasped quietly, his breath caught in his speech so it came out in a sort of croak.

Quickly, he yanked you behind one of the large stone pillars of the dark corridor and held you close to him. A blush creeped onto your cheeks as you felt his warm arms protectively wrap themselves around you, his fingers still linked through your own. You couldn't decide which feeling overwhelmed you more; the fact that you had the love of your life holding you against his warm, gentle frame in a protective way that only could be experienced when it's happening right before your eyes and not behind them in some dream.

Or the feeling of fear; the fact that the most feared Professor was about to discover two disobedient Gryffindor's wandering the corridors at the darkest point of the night, cuddling behind a pillar close together, which could be taken the wrong way without an explanation.

Fred could sense your anxious feeling of the possible outcomes of the situation, and he gently squeezed your hand in his larger one. You loved Fred's hands, but you didn't know why... They were always so soft, no matter what he had been doing. Whether it had been playing Quidditch, inventing new products for his and George's joke collection, or just being the complete joker that he is.

"Stay quiet, otherwise we'll get in deep trouble and you'll end up getting detention too, and I don't want that." Fred whispered quietly next to your ear, his breath washing over your skin. Your capability to speak had been withdrawn from you, leaving you unable and silenced. A simple light nod was the only action you were able of showing. The dangerous sound of the light, echoing footsteps of Snape's polished black shoes swam through the air, chilling the warm blood that flowed through your veins.

You prayed that the darkness of the shadow was large enough to shield you both from discovery, hoping desperately that you wouldn't get Fred into more trouble; you didn't want him getting an extension on his already long detention.

"Fred-" Your whisper was silenced by Fred's fingers gently pressed up against your lips. You swallowed, quietly. You nodded lightly and stayed as quiet as you could, as did Fred.

Soon enough, the increasingly growing shadow of Snape's form grew closer and closer, stretching out across the old stone corridor. You and Fred shuffled slightly around the statue bit by bit, avoiding any possible view the horrid teacher may have. Both of your eyes were fixed upon the dark, shifty, greasy black haired man patrolling the only path you had to escape.

"Come on," Fred whispered gently yet cautiously. The tension filling his body slowly flowing away like a small stream of water escaping the roots of a large woodland tree. He ushered you in the direction he thought was the safest and less likely way that you'll both get caught, the opposite direction. You smiled at his 'genius' idea.

Quickly, and as quietly as mice, the two of you tip toed a run down in the opposite direction, hopefully the way to the Gryffindor common room. Even though Fred was in his seventh and final year at Hogwarts, he still got lost sometimes and used that excuse numerously in class whenever arriving late.

Your walk turned into a speed walk, your speed walk turned into a jog, your jog turned into a run. Hand in hand, you and Fred laughed happily, shaken a little by nerves. Your eyesight started to adjust to the shadows and figures of the corridors and stairwells, seeing the witches and wizards of old peacefully slumber, completely silent other than a few quiet snores here and there.

"That was a close one, wasn't it?!" Fred laughed loudly, only to be hushed by a wizard in a painting, lazily opening up his eyes. Fred smiled apologetically and snickered whilst running beside you.

By now it was rather late, and the two of you should have been back at the common room ages ago. Even though you would have loved to stay up all night and be in the company of Fred, you couldn't. Tiredness had overcome you once again. Annoyingly, the same wasn't with Fred; he was still wide awake as a child on Christmas Eve.

Soon enough, you both approached the familiar painting, spoke the password, and entered the Gryffindor common room as silently as possible. Luckily, the room was parched with any life. The only thing alive and dancing was the warm, lazy fire that crackled its hello and goodnight.

You hopped up onto two or three steps of the girls dormitory staircase to be slightly taller than Fred, to allow yourself to look down on him for a change. Your smile was mirrored by his sleepy grin. His chocolate eyes staring right up and into yours, content.

"Night, Freddy," You whispered happily, ruffling his adorable red hair through your fingers.

"Nighty night," Fred hummed softly. Before he left, Fred swiftly stole another short sweet kiss from you before jumping up the boy's dormitory stairs at least three at a time, a huge grin planted on his face. You shook your head and giggled to yourself, muttering.

"Ladder legs..."


	18. Chapter 18

The dawn of morning was a bright spread of sunlight, the rays creeping in the dark room through the thin fibres of the scarlet red curtains, shielding the empty air from the outside light.

Though there was a bitter chill to this light, and pale grey clouds were starting to form a gathering in the morning sky, preparing to ambush the clear with a blanket of shade.

It was early morning on a Monday, and there was hardly any sound or movement throughout the whole castle. The only audible sound would be either the snores from sleeping witches and wizards, or the odd tweet and hoot from a bird or owl passing by.

Your peaceful slumber was slowly disappearing as your were being gently shook by the shoulder, just enough to wake you with startling. Your eyes lazily opened slowly, desperate to shut again.

"Wakey wakey, Fiona," a gentle whisper skimmed against your ear, once covered by your snuggley duvet.

"Hm... wha...?" Your voice mumbled in complaint, weeping for just five more minutes of shut eye.

The shaking stopped. A small sigh of relief escaped your lungs as you closed your hardly-open eyes again. But then, something licked the side of your cheek like a dog would in greeting to its owner. This instantly woke your entire body and you shot up like a bullet to a target, wiping your face clean from the slobber with your hand. Your now fully-awake eyes looked up to whoever was crouched down on the floor beside your bed, smiling brightly towards you.

"Morning!" Fred greeted a little loudly, beaming a bright eyed and bushy tailed smile.

"Fre-" You stopped your loud words, afraid of waking the others, not wanting the morning to go off with a bad start. Quickly you quietened them down. "Fred, what are you-? How did you get in here?!"

"Through the door?" Fred snorted like that was a fairly dumb question, his hand gesturing behind him towards the door which was wide open.

You rubbed your eyes with the back of your hand before stretching, accompanied by a small yawn. "Why are you here so early? It's..." You quickly checked the clock on your bedside table and your eyes widened at the time. "It's 6:30am!"

"And?" Fred chuckled, smiling innocently like a child. "That gives us more time to spend with each other before we head our separate ways in boring lessons!"

"It wouldn't be so boring if you payed attention once in a while and learnt something," you giggled.

"I refer back to my previous comment," Fred said snobbishly, as if pretending he were one of the Malfoy's.

You smiled and shook your head, amused by his bubbly personality.

"Come on!"

"What?" you asked, curious.

"Get up, get dressed, and then we can go for a walk, or whatever you feel like doing." Fred said cheerfully with a dash of hope that you wouldn't go back to sleep.

You simply stared at Fred with an expression that read 'I am not amused', desperately trying to keep it in hold without cracking up or hug him for his adorableness. Fred pulled out a lollipop from one of his robe pockets and played the puppy dog eye trick, trying to look as sweet as possible, knowing that the eyes always worked. "I brought you a lollipop~"

"Fred, I don't trust you with any kind of sweet treats anymore since you and George started your little joke business." You chuckled, already failing at trying to keep serious.

"Hey, I wouldn't test anything on you! ...nothing _too _serious on you," He grinned mischievously, earning himself a smack on the arm, playfully of course, nothing too damaging. "Come on, spend some time with old Freddy,"

"Fred, you're not that old. You'll be seventeen soon!"

"And you're fifteen! You haven't reached the grand old age of sixteen where you'll be so old!" Fred put on an old man's voice to add to the affect, gaining himself laughter from his girlfriend. "Come on, pleeease!" He begged, putting on the big chocolate brown puppy dog eyes again.

"Alright, alright!" You gave in with a huge sigh, shuffling out of bed. "Meet me down at the common room, I'll be down in about ten minutes."

"Why?"

"So I can get dressed silly!" You smiled, trying not to speak too loudly.

"Can't I stay and watch?" Fred said playfully, laughing.

"Fred! You are such a perv!" You chuckled shooing him away out of your dormitory so that you could change.

Quietly, you shut the wooden door after him, laughing silently to yourself at how ridiculously adorable, annoying, caring and loveable Fred was.

You stayed true to your words and met Fred down in the common room no longer than ten minutes. It didn't take you that long to get dressed and done up anyway since you don't wear much make up and aren't really that fussed with your hair, all you do is either leave it down or put it up in a ponytail, and today you gave it a quick brush and left it down for a change. There wasn't really any point in wearing casual clothing, seeing as breakfast starts at half seven. Both you and Fred wore your school robes, yours a little neater than Fred's, but not totally spot on like Percy's used to be.

Fred was patiently waiting for you, perched on one of the arms of the armchair, tapping his feet against the flooring and smiling from amusement from the tap, tap, tap his shoes made. His childish nature always brought a smile to your face. His charming smile and gorgeous brown eyes though, they always sent a butterfly to flutter from its resting spot and explore the calm emptiness, replacing it with shyness, like they sent you back to the moment where you and Fred very first met. And his red hair, those fiery red strands of his that glowed like a fresh flame crackling out from the firewood, as red as a little robin's chest, as soft as ribbons yet as scruffy as a dogs.

Fred's focus on his tapping stopped immediately as soon as he heard the light sound of feet coming towards him. He smiled brightly.

"Heya! What do you want to do?"

You shrugged, smiling. "I really don't mind!"

You curiously looked at Fred as he randomly dodged your response by looking at the clock in the common room, as if waiting for the next few seconds to go by.

"Three... two... one..." Fred muttered to himself. A bright smile replaced the small one he wore before, getting brighter as he turned round to look at you again. You opened your mouth to speak but it soon closed after Fred reached into one of the larger pockets in his robes and pulled out a small dark red box, holding it in his hand gently. Fred sat beside you on the sofa closest to the fire and kissed your cheek softly, whispering. "Happy birthday,"

Your eyes widened, filled with surprise "I completely forgot about my birthday," You then noticed the little red box he held in his hand, his fingers nervously fiddling with it for some strange reason. Your eyes softened, as did your words from the sight of his thoughtfulness. "Fred... you didn't have to get me anything, I told you this before that I didn't want-"

"I know, I know, but this present is different."

"Different?" You asked curiously, a little confused. Fred nodded lightly, chewing his lower lip a bit. "Fred? Are you alright?"

Fred nodded lightly again, twitching a smile before taking a deep breath, slowly allowing the air to be released from his lungs before taking it easy, trying not to have a panic attack.

That's when Fred fell silent. He placed his free hand gently on top of one of yours that rested on your lap.

"I have two things to say," You nodded, gesturing for him to go on. "One; I'm leaving Hogwarts," Your heart sank instantly. Fred was...leaving? But there was still half of school left! It wasn't like he had that much time to wait for the end of his seventh year.

"What? Fred that's... that's ridiculous! You can't leave Fred! Why are you leaving?"

"George and I are finally setting up a shop in Diagon Alley, a joke shop. Harry gave us the money he won last year, well, he forcefully gave it to us because he said he had no need for it," Fred chuckled dryly, seeing that his lighter words weren't warming your now miserable mood. "Look, this is something George and I have dreamt of since we were kids! And Umbridge is completely taking over the entire school; she's banned our products, she gives us detention nearly every week, she won't let boys and girls near each other, don't you remember us sneaking? Because of _her_. I can't stand it anymore, Fi-Fi! But it's not like I am throwing my life away because I'm not, we're not. George and I are starting a business, one which we think that will do well; people need a laugh these days with what's happening at the moment. But I'm not leaving you, I won't let this break our contact. I'll write to you as much as I can, every week if that's what you want! We'll still see each other in the holidays, I promise."

You could see how much Fred wanted this. How much he wanted his life to be worth something, to be able to achieve something and actually make it in this world. This could get him the life that he wanted; to be able to get nice things instead of constant second hand items, to be able to save up for a home himself maybe, to live a life full of happiness.

You sighed heavily, unsure. Your eyes broke contact with Fred's, directing them down to the floor.

"What's the second thing?" You asked quietly, almost in whisper.

That's when Fred fell silent once more. His eyes were growing sad. He blinked a couple of times to remove himself from the down-feeling and restored his nervous excitement. Fred took another deep breath, smiling.

"Fi-Fi, you have made me smile the first day I met you back home, when I was a complete idiot. Actually, nothings changed there. But back to my point; we've had a ups and downs, a few downs but most of them ups throughout our time together. Well, I'm not very good at these sort of things... I guess that I'll keep it short and sweet. Fiona, Fi-Fi, pumpkin..."

Fred handed you the box gently into your hand, waiting for you to open it up and see what was inside. You did just that. You carefully clicked open the small red box lid to reveal a silver ring with a sparkling jewel that glistened in the light. You blinked in utter surprise at the beautiful ring shining up at you. Fred smiled a small nervous smile and slid off the sofa, climbing down onto one knee with a shaky voice.

"...m-marry me?"


	19. Chapter 19

Your eyes were wider than before, filled with shock and awe. You couldn't speak for seconds; your mouth failing to deliver the words you needed to say, the words you wanted to say. Your words were feeble and small, barely an answer.

"...W-what?"

"Marry me," Fred repeated quite calmly, but his eyes had more nerves than an ocean could contain.

You tried to answer; but once again your words failed you, still paralysed from his question.

"Look, I-I know that it's sudden and that we are quite young but I wanted to ask this for months now but you were just fifteen, and I thought that you wouldn't say yes because you used to be too young. But that's why I waited until the very second you turned sixteen, that's why I woke you this early to ask you, even if it is at a weird time of 7:12am but I waited! This is odd coming from me, I know, but... but I just feel like we were made for each other? I know that what I said was very cliché but it's true and honest! I do feel like we were because I can be myself around you without being worried about judgemental reasons or if you thought that I was too strange for you, which even now I'm surprised that you still said yes to being my girlfriend," Fred chuckled dryly amongst his nervous words, his speech quickening.

"I know that there are so many guys out there who are better than me, intelligence and wealth wise, but not looks. I mean, look at me, I'm gorgeous!" Fred joked, but quickly returned back to his point. "But I promise that I will do everything I can do to make you the happiest girl in the whole world, in the whole universe because I love you Fi-Fi... and that's my main reason really." Fred's cheeks burned a flaming red brighter than any blush you had seen, brighter than his hair, or even your cat Freddy's hair.

A silence fell between the two of you. Fred couldn't tell if this was a good or bad silence, whether it was an awkward or a wait-for-it moment. He swallowed, his throat dry and his nerves not budging a single bit.

Fred was about to open his mouth to speak but he was stopped by your lips crashing down onto his, your hands cupping his burning cheeks gently yet firmly, causing you two to tumble to the ground. Fred lay on his back with you lying on top of him, finally releasing him from your hands and lips. A blush also managed to creep up onto your cheeks as you looked down at him, your faces inches apart. Fred smiled a little and brushed your hair behind your ear to stop it from tickling his nose.

"So, err... is that a yes?"

"Of course it is you idiot!" You laughed brightly, kissing him once more before allowing him to speak again. "Mm, minty," you chuckled, tasting the sweetness of mint from Fred's lips. Fred nodded, chuckling from embarrassment.

"Yeah, I brushed my teeth twice this morning just in case,"

"Why would you brush them twice?" you laughed from either confusion or amusement, or both.

"Because I wanted to make sure that I was minty fresh~!" Fred said like those cheesy people in the television commercials, although you doubted that he even knew what a television was. "That and I didn't want my breath to smell,"

"You do realise that brushing your teeth twice a day will do that just fine? I share a room with Hermione and you know her parents are dentists so I get a whole load of lectures about how to keep your mouth hygienic-"

"Boooring!" Fred yawned, grinning mischievously. You flicked his nose playfully, trying not to grin yourself.

Fred carefully removed the ring from the box and hoped that it would fit alright, seeing that he isn't that clever to other eyes but you thought that everyone had some sort of intelligence, and for Fred it was creativity. Thankfully, the ring fitted beautifully and it sparkled in whatever lighting, glum or bright. You smiled in awe.

"How did you get it to sparkled so many colours?"

"I put a charm on it to make your favourite colours stand out more. George helped me do it-"

"It's not going to explode up in my face is it?" You panicked mockingly.

"Oh yeah, course it is!" Fred laughed but then shook his head, clearing up the fact that it was a genuine ring and wasn't a joke. "I made it so it's unique, hopefully. It can change to whatever colour you want it to be; so if you wanted it to be a pale blue, it'll turn pale blue. If you wanted it to turn to a dusty rose pink, it'll turn to a dusty rose pink colour."

You smiled happily at how much thought and effort he put into this, but your smile soon faded.

"Is Ginny still mad at us?"

"Huh? Oh no, she helped me choose the ring. I had a talk to her about us and why we kept our relationship secret and she understood after a while and a few punches later. I've got a bruise on my arm, feisty little sister I have don't I?" Fred chuckled. "As soon as I mentioned the word 'propose' she deafened me with this squeal, ah, my poor ears! But yeah, she came with me to choose the ring. George couldn't come because he was testing out our newest products on Ron. Nothing too serious! Just a few sweets that change some of your features to different colours. Such as these chewy sweets which turns your hair different colours and then falls out! But it grows back a couple of minutes later so it's all controlled, the longest he's been bald for was five minutes, so it's fine."

One of your eyebrows rose when he described his product.

"Isn't that a bit... odd? Wait, I'm talking to a Weasley here," You joked, laughing as Fred pouted.

"Well, you're going to be a Weasley so maybe I should make your hair turn red like ours!"

"I wouldn't mind," You shrugged, nodding your head a little at the idea. Fred frowned.

"Damn," he cursed under his breath as you chuckled in amusement from his childish ways.

A content silence fell between the two of you. Fred lightly brushing the backs of his fingers against your cheek, stroking your skin softly. You looked into those big brown eyes of his that always reminded you of melting chocolate and glistened tons mischief whenever you looked into them.

"Do you think that I should wear it?"

"What do you mean?" Fred cooed quietly, kissing your forehead.

"Shall we have our engagement, you know, public? It's a bit sudden for others to know, and some might get the wrong idea... if you know what I mean."

Fred frowned in thought but his eyes swiftly widened as soon as he got what you were saying.

"O-oh, right," Fred laughed. "They might think that I got you...?"

"Pregnant, exactly." You laughed also at the idea, but were also worried about the reactions others may have if they did think that.

"I haven't have I?!" Fred acted shocked, but then grinned afterwards.

"Fred you know that you haven't because we haven't done _that_ yet!"

One of Fred's eyebrows rose at your comment, smirking cheekily. "'Yet'?"

"...Shut up." You mumbled in embarrassment, your cheeks turning pink at the idea.

"You so want me!" Fred teased, winking. You grabbed a cushion from on of the armchairs and smothered it into Fred's face, laughing at him struggling to remove it and hearing him laugh under the punishment. Fred managed to push the cushion off of him and gasped air into his lungs, heaving in breaths whilst smirking in your direction. "Gee, I wonder what you're going to be like when we get married!"

You giggled and threw the cushion at his face playfully. The cushion bounced off of Fred's face and landed beside his elbow on the floor. Fred's breath lightened from his previous heaves, now becoming just heavy, slow breathes.

"You're doing that on purpose," you snorted.

"Doing what?" Fred asked, tilting his head innocently.

"Pretending to have one of those 'manly' heavy pants on," You mocked him by lowering your voice and breathing heavily and slowly. Fred grabbed the cushion laying on its own and threw it up at your face, getting his own back. An amused flow of laughter passed through your lips. "You know, this'll look very weird if anyone sees us down here."

"Doesn't bother me," Fred shrugged. But as soon as he said that, George came bouncing down the stairs of the boys dormitory and jumped the remaining few just for fun. It didn't take him long to notice you both on the floor and he grinned once he did.

"Getting some from the Mrs, eh, Freddy?"

"Shut up, Georgey," Fred said, grinning also from his brother's comment.

"Stay safe, use protection!" George whispered a stage whisper, loud enough for you two to hear whilst giving you both a wink and a thumbs up. Both of your cheeks transformed into a pallet of red shades.

"We weren't-, you don't understand w-we … We haven't even done _that _yet Georgey!" Fred stuttered. You gave Fred a questioning look as he quoted what you had said not even a few minutes ago. Fred caught your look and smiled innocently, raising his eyebrows in a cheeky way to add onto his adorableness.

"Ooo, 'yet'?" George teased.

"Shut uuup!" Fred whined, trying not to laugh as he slapped a hand across his eyes and forehead.

"Alright, alright! Just to warn you, the others will be down soon to go to breakfast." You and Fred nodded in thanks, not really wanting anyone to get the wrong idea. George was about to leave out of the door but then halted his skip and poked his head around to look at the two of you. "Oh, and if it's a boy, call it George?!"

Fred pulled off his school shoe and quickly threw it in the direction of his brother, missing him by an inch.

"Gosh, Freddy, you should have better aim considering that you're a beater!" George ducked as the other shoe skimmed across his messy head of red hair, hitting the wall behind him with a mild thud. "Now, now, no need to get aggressive my dear brother of mine-GAH!"

"Fred! That was my shoe!" You whined with a smile as Fred stole your shoe off of your foot and managed to hit George this time. George laughed and swooped off and out of the Gryffindor common room, bounding down the corridor to avoid getting hit by a swarm of shoes.

Fred wrapped his long arms around your waist and gently lifted you up with him, holding you as he stood up back onto his feet. Your eyes were completely opposite each other and your feet were at least five or six inches from the ground. Fred chuckled.

"You're so small,"

"No, you're just freakishly tall!" You and Fred bellowed laughter before he placed you back down to your feet. He collected up all three of the shoes and slipped on his easily; he then lifted up your shoe in the palm of his hand, putting on a posh voice.

"Your shoe, my lady."

"Why, thank you sir," You laughed as you swiped the shoe from Fred's hand and quickly hopped your sock covered foot into it.

"May I accompany you to breakfast?" Fred bowed, holding out his hand whilst placing the other behind him. Tears were forming in the corner of your eyes, as you couldn't stop laughing from his posh gentleman acting.

"Stop it, Fred! My stomach hurts!" You laughed, your hands clutching your stomach, hurting a little from your continuous laughter.

"Then I shall carry you!"

"What? No, no, no-AH!" Fred scooped you up into his arms and wrapped your arms around his neck, his hands supporting underneath your knees to prevent you from falling. It was fun getting piggy-back rides from Fred because then you could experience what it's like to be at there height whilst adding on the additional inches from your own height onto his. Occasionally you had to duck for doorways, otherwise you would get an awful headache. You decided to just play along and pointed out in front of him, commanding. "Forwards, mush!"


	20. Chapter 20

You hadn't laughed as much as you did before meeting Fred; he was your life, your everything. Every moment with him was perfect. Even when you had your small arguments it wasn't long before the two of you made up. Fred would often sit next to you when you are mad at him and annoy you in a sweet 'I'm sorry' way, which consisted of light pokes, gentle nudges, forced loving hugs when you didn't want them and many other sweet gestures.

How you managed without Fred you didn't know. And you didn't want to know what it would be like without him. Never.

Other students would often laugh and stare when you two were together, but in a good way. Other than a few Slytherins and grumpy teachers who would tell the two of you to stop acting like five year old kids. Slytherins would frown upon you, saying that you have lowered yourself by dating a Weasley. You didn't care. You loved Fred. More than anything. And you would do anything for him and his family. The Weasley's were a second family to you and Molly and Arthur Weasley absolutely adored you and were fascinated by your wizard family living in the muggle world and would often ask questions about the society and 'weird' objects which you gladly answered.

Despite Fred being quite a but taller than you, you would stand tall for him when he and his family get targeted. Which he loved you even more for.

Your stomach ached so much once you reached the Great Hall because of how much you were laughing. It took you a while to get there because of the detour Fred took, carrying you around different long corridors easily.

You chuckled as Fred lowered you down to the ground, settling on your feet.

"There you are, returned to the ground." Fred said, his face still glowing with a smug grin from this morning. You shook your head in amusement and punched his arm.

"Yeah, finally!" You laughed as the two of you took your seats. You were sat next to Ginny on your left and Fred on your right, his twin soon taking a perch next to his brother.

"Alright, you lot?!" George called, immediately piling at least five pieces of toast onto his plate. Hermione looked on in fake disgust.

"Really, do all of your family eat this much?" She said with a one sided smile. George looked up with a whole slice of buttered toast hanging from his mouth by the corner, clutched by his teeth. All of the Weasley's on the table looked at one another and nodded with shrugs, synchronising in speech.

"Yeah,"

"Gosh!" She sighed dramatically, but chuckled before spooning a small amount of cereal into her mouth. You couldn't stop grinning to yourself as you looked down at the ring on your finger, gleaming up at you just as brightly. Ron frowned, curious.

"Oi, Fioona, fwat you gwinen aboot?" Ron muffled through a mouthful of sausage. Hermione shoved a napkin into his face, hinting greatly for him to remove the ketchup surrounding his mouth.

"I believe what Ronald was trying to say was; Fiona, why are you beaming so brightly this morning?" She smiled, they had all remembered your birthday as you recalled seeing a little pile of presents perched somewhere in the common room, attempting to hide. You guessed that it must have been Ron who was told to hide them, failing. Bless him.

You looked up at the two of them, then at Fred. Fred took a bite out of his jam smeared toast as he looked at you, smiling with a nod only you could notice.

"Well, this morning when I was rudely woken up," you teased Fred, who pretended to look upset but just ended up smiling. "Fred decided to give me my birthday present...

Ginny and Hermione looked most intrigued as they eagerly awaited for you to continue, as Fred wouldn't tell them a thing about what he had planned. You smirked to yourself, surprised that they hadn't noticed yet. "He waited until a certain time this morning before giving me and asking me something,"

"Ask you something?" Ginny asked, puzzled. You nodded, unable to keep back. You flicked up your left hand so that it was visible for everyone to see, showing off the beautiful glistening ring. Everyone gasped and Ginny and Hermione squealed with excitement, earning a few confused looks from other students dotted around the hall. Ginny grabbed your hand swiftly, squeezing it a little tightly as her eyes bulged looking upon the ring.

"Oh my! That's... that's beautiful! Fred, did you actually choose this by yourself?!"

"Hey, just because I'm a guy, I can't choose something nice?" He pouted, shoving in the remains of his toast into his mouth. You chuckled and kissed his cheek, gaining a curl of a smile from the corner of his lips.

"George, did you know about this?"

"Hm? Oh, yeah. Of course I did." He said through a mouthful of food.

"George! You didn't tell me?!" Ginny whined. Both you and Fred shared a small amused look, as this reminded you of the last time this happened.

"You helped me Ginny!" Fed laughed, shaking his head.

"...oh yeah." Ginny mumbled, smiling a little from embarrassment.

"Did you ask her parents?" Hermione asked curiously. Fred shook his head.

"Nope." Hermione frowned.

"Do you know her parents?"

"Nope."

"So, you've never met them?"

"Nope." Fred laughed to himself.

"That's great start, Fred. 'Hello, my name's Fred and I am engaged to your daughter, nice to meet you'!" said Ron. A few on the table chuckled at his comment. You also chuckled.

"Oh, yeah. That's one thing I was meant to ask you, Fred." Fred and the others looked towards you, urging you to continue. "I have told my parents about you and they would like to meet you. They have offered for you to stay for a few days, if you wanted to of course." Ron and Harry sniggered, knowing that Fred wasn't the most well-sociable person in gatherings as he always pulled pranks alongside his brother, unable to behave properly. Fred blinked.

"Oh, yeah, ok. I guess I have to anyway, seeing as you're going to be my wife now." You blushed, smiling a little shyly as Ginny awed.

"I'll let them know soon."

"How many kids are you gonna have?" Ginny asked, more like demanded. Both you and Fred blushed darkly. Fred surprisingly confessed.

"Well... I would like at least... four." You smiled.

"...I want five." Fred blinked and returned your smile before nodding.

"I guess that I can manage to give you another one,"

"I bet you would, Freddy."

"S-shut up, Georgey!" Fred stuttered, shoving his brother and blushing more. Everyone involved in the conversation laughed, shaking their heads as they continued with their breakfast. This happy moment was soon ruined by an unwelcome listener.

"Did I hear right?" Malfoy interrupted, standing behind you and Fred, scowling. You exhaled whilst closing your eyes, not wanting this drama right now. "You, Fiona, are getting hitched to this? A Weasley? Did you ever consider what this would do to your family name? Your rank? Father will not be pleased. He hoped that you and I would eventually be acquainted." Harry snorted. "Something funny, Potter?!" He snapped sharply. Harry shook his head, trying not to laugh further.

"Nothing."

"Look, Malfoy," you huffed, unwilling to open your eyes to look up at the snarling Slytherin. "I love Fred, alright? He's a thousand times- no, a MILLION times better than you, than you can ever be. He's perfect in every single way and there's nothing I would change about him. Which is more than what I can say about you, Malfoy."

"Oh, really?" He challenged, scowling. "You would rather choose a worthless Weasley, over a Malfoy? Do you know what your parents would say?!"

Ron's knuckles cracked under the table. You sighed, your anger building.

"Yes. Yes, I would. And you know what? I reckon that my parents would love Fred just as much as I do! I would rather go out with Goyle than EVER go out with YOU Malfoy!"

"...But you won't, won't you?" Fred joked, but he had a sweet hidden voice of concern that you actually meant that. You turned your attention to the redhead, briefly brushing your hand from his hair to his chin.

"No, of course I wouldn't, Freddy." You smiled, pecking his forehead softly before going back to your on-growing anger towards Malfoy. "Why don't you just get the picture, Malfoy? The Weasley's are better than the Malfoy's." His mouth fell open.

"How dare you! I would hex you right now if our families weren't acquainted as well, my father WILL hear about this-"

"Yeah, yeah, Malfoy. We know your bloody catchphrase already!" Everyone around you desperately tried to hide their sniggers by forcing food into their mouths or covering them with their hands. Malfoy's face rolled into a thundering scowl.

"Traitor."

"What?" You stood up to your feet, angered to breaking point. At least half of the students in the hall were watching you now.

"They're pathetic, Fiona! They can hardly keep themselves stable with their father's job! Yet, here they are multiplying like rabbits. Good thing that those pathetic parents won't have anymore, I don't think that Hogwarts will be able to take it! They are nothing other than poor, worthless, stupid mistakes! Not to mention a waste of space-" THWAK.

A large echo of gasps filled the hall as they witnessed you punching Malfoy hard in the face, instantly breaking his nose. You towered over the teenager as he collapsed to the ground, clutching the collar of his shirt with a tight clenched fist. Your face was as terrifying to him as a rabid werewolf bearing its teeth with eyes so piercing that they might as well be daggers themselves.

"Don't you EVER talk about the Weasley's like that Malfoy! You are more of a pathetic coward than they are! Cowering behind your father and running away whenever you get challenged! You are just an attention seeking git who needs to get off of his high horse and actually give others some respect! Or I will continue to break that pretty little nose of yours until you learn! Got it?!" Malfoy was silent, blood pouring out from his nose and down his pointed chin. "GOT IT?!"

"Y-y-ye-yes!" Malfoy stammered, just about. He was terrified.

You let go of him and he stumbled to his feet, fleeing out from the great hall like a child with a shaky cry.

Cheers sung throughout the hall, claps also sounding. You stretched out your hand until it clicked, not wincing at all as you sat back down in your seat.

"Bloody hell, Fiona!" Gaped Ron, unable to stop beaming as if he punched Malfoy himself. "That was bloody brilliant!"

"Why thank you Ron-" You were unable to finish your sentence as you were interrupted by Fred crashing his lips down onto yours, his long arms squeezing you in a tight embrace. He parted from you unwillingly, allowing you to breathe.

"That, was incredible. To think when dad will hear! And mum! She'll probably want you to be a Weasley even more than she did when she first met you!" You blushed, smiling a little proudly.

"It wasn't much, real-" Fred interrupted you once more with a brief sweet kiss, smiling as he shook his head.

"You stood up for us, that means a lot. Thank you." Fred kissed you once more, a genuine smile spread across his face. You smiled back at him but couldn't stop thinking about what Malfoy had said. It was true that your family lived the high life and are quite far opposite from the Weasley's lifestyle. It worried you as it ate up your thoughts. Quickly, you pushed them out of your mind.

Your parents will love Fred.

They're nice people; although can sometimes be snobby. But are welcoming and kind people.

So there's nothing to worry about...

...right?


	21. Chapter 21

"Have you got everything, Fred?" Mrs Weasley called up to her son, bustling about the house. Fred had left everything to the last minute again, no surprises there. You were sat in one of the comfy old armchairs in the living room, patiently waiting and smiling down on the ring on your finger. Your smile faded a little though. Should you wear it when you got home? Or should you take it off for now in case questions were raised.

"Fiona?" Ginny sat down on the sofa opposite you, noticing your distance in mind. "What's wrong?" You shrugged lightly.

"I don't know..." Ginny frowned. You looked up towards her and smiled, uncertain. "I don't know if I should wear the ring or not." You lightly fiddled with the beautiful ring. Of course you wanted to keep it on, but you were worried that your parents would freak out at your young engagement. A lot of people made the same assumption. And no, you weren't going to be a mother. Of course you wanted to be some day, but not just yet. Ginny smiled sympathetically.

"You know if they do take it the wrong way, and start yelling at you, mum will let you stay. She actually gets sad when you leave." You chuckled.

"Really?" Ginny nodded.

"Really. Like we said before, she knew you would be part of the family as soon as she met you." You smiled more warmly, hearing this cheered you up. Ginny smiled excitedly.

"Will you take the name?" She asked, her face brightening. You nodded with a smile.

"Of course, I can't wait. I honestly can't." Your heart fluttered at the idea of becoming Fiona Weasley, the idea of choosing a dress, the idea of the ceremony, the idea of Fred waiting for you... Your cheeks began to burn a pale red, Ginny noticing this of course.

"Aww, what are you thinking about?" You giggled lightly, trying to hide your blush. She guessed instantly. "You _have _to have purple as your main colour, the colour of your dress, remember?" You nodded happily, remembering that magical night. Your thoughts were soon interrupted by Mrs Weasley shouting for her son again.

"Fred Weasley you get down these stairs right now or I will come up there and drag you down myself!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" Fred called down, a little afraid as he thumped his feet down each step until he neared the last few, leaping to the ground.

"Honestly, Fred!" Mrs Weasley tutted, but couldn't help but smile as well. "I don't know what I will do with you sometimes!"

Fred smiled apologetically, he had woken up later than planned. This didn't surprise you really, seeing as you knew how much the Weasley's enjoyed their sleep.

"Now remember, Fred," she began, brushing down the arms of his grey cardigan covering his dark blue shirt. "Be polite, be nice, answer questions and please, please do not pull any of your so called jokes!"

"Bad luck, Freddy!" George cackled from the kitchen, sipping at his cup of tea as he leant against the sink. Fred shot him a jokey glare, shaking his head. Mrs Weasley started fussing over Fred again.

"Have you packed everything?" Fred sighed heavily.

"Yes."

"Have you got your wand?"

"Ye- wait, why?"

"Just in case!" She called loudly to herself. It was good to pack his wand, with all of the bad stuff going on at the moment.

"Have you got your muggle things? Money?"

"Yes, mum" Fred sighed heavily, laughing at his fussy mother. Mrs Weasley flapped her hand in the air.

"It's only because I love you, Fred." She patted his cheek before wondering off to find Mr Weasley to say goodbye to Fred. You got up from your seat and skipped over to Fred excitedly, beaming a smile.

"So, do you know what to say once in the fireplace?" Fred paused in thought, his eyes looking upwards as his brain began to churn.

"Onslow square...Kensington, Fiona Holloway." You nodded. This would get Fred directly to your house, despite not having the exact address it was enough to get him to the location he spoke of. A glisten of nerves flickered in his eyes as he smiled, happy he got the address right. Your arms swiftly wrapped themselves around Fred's waist, hugging him tightly. Fred was taken back by this quick motion but happily returned the gesture, chuckling softly.

"You and all of these surprise hugs Fi-Fi!" He kissed the top of your head and reluctantly let go you, his hands resting upon your waist. His smile warmed as his eyes drifted to yours, the nerves sliding away. "Sometimes I wonder why you love me Fi-Fi."

"I sometimes wonder that too!" You joked, poking your tongue up childishly at the tall redhead.

"Oh, I see how it is!" Fred pretended to look hurt, pouting incredibly. "You only want me for my looks! You don't love me for who I am!"

"Hmmm...yeah, sounds right!" You both joked like this often, sometimes ending up play fighting. Mrs Weasley loved how you made Fred so happy, and everyone else. Ginny always turned to you if she ever needed help or support, the twins found a new prankster to set traps for Ron who was their usual target, and Mr Weasley loved asking questions about the muggle world which you gladly answered. It was only for a few days, but you were going to miss them so much! They were a second family to you.

"Try not to get into too much trouble, Fred" George teased as he approached the two of you, mischief in his eyes.

"I'll try not to Georgie." Fred chuckled, one of his arms curling around your waist to hold you against him.

It was soon time to leave for your house and for Fred to meet your parents. Nervously, Fred followed you with light feet, shuffling against the old floor. You volunteered to leave first, hopefully to calm Fred's nerves and direct him how to pronounce correctly, hoping that he wouldn't get lost along the way.

You were currently being squashed in one of Mrs Weasley's warm loving hugs, unable to breathe for a few seconds. Although you didn't mind. "Have a safe journey, my dear. Hope to see you back soon. I'll have a nice batch of berry muffins for you when you do." You smiled gratefully, sweetened by her motherly nature. "Plus, we can talk about wedding plans with a nice cup of tea." She said in a softer voice. You nodded back in response, smiling brightly. You knew that you would miss her motherly ways a lot when you got back home.

"Bye, Molly." You said a little sadly, but accompanied it with a smile to hide your sadness.

Your feet guided you inside the fireplace as your hand clutched a handful of floo powder, some of the grains seeping through the gaps of your fist. You turned on the spot to see everyone's eyes set upon you, Ginny really didn't want you to go at all. Loudly and clearly, you called out the location and released the floo powder, setting off a roar of enormous green flames swirling around you, disappearing in seconds.

It was now Fred's turn. His throat started to dry out like a puddle in the desert as he swallowed, his feet heavily striding toward the fireplace. Fred ducked as he entered, gathering a handful of floo power as he did so. Shuffling, he turned to face his family, giving them all a small smile before he too disappeared in a sea of green flames.


	22. Chapter 22

The roar of green light settled below Fred's big feet as a new layout was portrayed in front of his nervous eyes. A huge sigh of relief escaped his lips, his muscles in his body relaxing.

"Oh, you actually got it right?" Fred heard you chuckle your words not far from where he stood. Luckily the fireplace was quite large, so Fred didn't have to duck or smash his head against the edge. His eyebrows rose up to a questioning look, a cocky grin merging onto the corners on his lips.

"I love how much confidence you have in me, it makes me feel such..." His face pondered for a word, his mind going blank. "...stuff."

"Always have a way with words don't you, Fred?" You laughed, a bright bubbly sound echoing through the large living room.

The living room was delicately designed with every detail cooperating with one another to create the most outstanding awe onlookers could give. It was similar to the Gryffindor common room in colours and furnishings. Rich reds, dark oak and old gold possessions flowed around the circumference of the room. Everything matched and nothing dared to clash as your mother would strongly go against anything that wouldn't enhance the room's beauty. Your parents were very well-lived, and showed it throughout the house. Not snobbishly though, unlike those horrid cold Malfoy's who thought that they were royalty amongst those who do not share their name. You quickly flew those thoughts out from your thoughts, having them being replaced by the tall teenager that now stood a few inches in front of you, smiling.

Just then, your name was called curiously by a familiar voice, your mother. She was a lovely woman; she was kind, welcoming, caring and extremely loving for her only child. They would have loved to have more children, but she suffered a scary pregnancy that almost lead to her dying from giving birth. They didn't want to take the risk, but were so thankful they were able to have you as a daughter. She loved to spoil you but grew you up so that it wouldn't change how you looked upon others, unlike Draco who was VERY spoilt and showed it considerably highly towards others less fortunate. She also had red hair, natural of course. It was slightly darker than Fred's hair and had a tint of copper when the light shone down upon the shining strands. Her eyes gleamed a sea blue, light freckles dotted upon her rosy cheeks. She wore a smart knee-high dark burgundy dress accompanied by black heels, adding to her elegant look. Her hair was down in flowing waves and her lips were neatly painted with a light shade of berry lipstick.

Her eyes brightened as she entered the room, focusing on you and the tall redhead beside you, smiling adorably with nerves.

"You must be Fred!" She called across the large room, her heels clicking casually against the dark oak flooring towards the two of you. You could feel the palm of Fred's hand go slightly clammy, tensing a little as you could feel the nerves pounding through his heart and into your own. You desperately wanted your parents to like Fred. You knew they would in the back of your mind, but everyone's is always clouded by that dreaded disapproval that parents seemed to love to torture their children with.

Not your parents though.

"I've heard so much about you," She greeted kindly. Your mother was shorter than Fred too, but was still a good height for someone her age. Your father was about the same height as the tall teenager.

"So good to finally meet you."

"And you, too." Fred nodded, smiling back towards her warm features. Your mother secretly scanned over Fred, he didn't notice but you surely did. Mentally, you rolled your eyes at her. She wasn't judging him, but she was checking over his features. She liked to take in what people look like as she was a people person. She loved how people chose to dress, what their style was and whether or not it suited their personality. Almost instantly, she gave you that 'mother approves' look.

"Don't forget you two about tonight," Fred's expression changed as a befuddled mood spread over him. Your mother continued. "The family and friends, including your father's work colleagues, for a gathering at seven this evening." You nodded in response as the nuts and bolts clattered inside of Fred's brain. He did remember you telling him, Ginny would batter him otherwise, but his memory isn't one of his best qualities, one of his excuses for not doing so well in exams back at Hogwarts. Your smaller fingers squeezed Fred's larger ones I support, gently stroking his knuckles with your thumb soothingly.

"We remember." You stated confidently, your head held high as you tried not to giggle at Fred still trying to figure it out.

"Good," Your mother beamed towards the two of you. "I have to go and send some important letters in a moment, so I will be out of your way for you to do what you like. Try and stay out of trouble." She gave a cheeky grin before swiftly manoeuvring out of the grand living room, her figure gradually getting smaller and smaller until she was no longer visible. Silence dripped into the room until you decided to speak up to the redhead.

"I think she likes you," You began with a soft, relieved voice. Your feet shuffled against the oak flooring, your arm beginning to stretch as you lightly pulled Fred behind you, directing him as you lead the way. His big brown eyes sparkled with uncertainty, concerned about your words.

"Are you sure..?" The smile that was engraved on your face grew larger, amused and awed at the different side to this 'confident, cocky' prankster. It was weird how this side was shown, but not in a bad way. It was nice in your eyes.

"Of course," You giggled, squeezing his hand again reassuringly. "Why wouldn't anyone like a Weasley?!"

"Well..." Fred muttered quietly, not wanting to particularly answer that question, although it was more rhetorical. Immediately you halted your tracks and swivelled round on the heels of your feet, causing Fred to bump into you slightly, apologising with his eyes. They were even more confused than they were before at your sudden strange stop. They looked inside of yours for answers that were not given. Not right away, of course. A gentle silence paused the air between the two of you as your eyes connected. He didn't sound any words or questions, but just silently stood there, waiting for an answer. It was then you warmly gazed up at him with your smile, not believing how blind he can be sometimes.

"Do I need to repeat the speech I made to Malfoy?"

Fred's eyes relaxed into a gentle warmth, remembering how you stood up for the Weasley's and stood by them no matter what others would say. And you would it again, numerous amounts of times because of how lovely they all are and how they welcomed you into their home, and their family. Mrs Weasley can't wait to organise the wedding; from what colours to choose, what flowers would bloom the brightest, what food to prepare...

"You know that I am still grateful for what you did," Fred spoke happily, curling a few escaping strands of your hair behind your ear. "For everything you've done."

You lightly nudged Fred's stomach with your fist, shoving him back a few inches, not in a mean way, but your couple jokey way.

"Not as much as you have for me," You began. Your eyes pricked all over with miniature stings, causing a small burn of the tears about to form in the brims of your eyes. All of your hidden emotions that swelled inside of you exploded into words, overflowing your body and mind. "Honestly, Fred, my life was so boring before I met all of you. Despite my lifestyle, my supposedly 'close family friends'... I- stop mocking me!" You laughed, smacking Fred's arms playfully as he put on his sad face, pouting mockingly, his lip trembling a little as he attempted to stifle his laughter. He failed, obviously. The laughter between you two faded quietly as your eyes remained connected. A content silence filled the air.

"Come on," You began softly, taking Fred by the hand, linking through your fingers with his. "Let's go get ready."


	23. Fireworks - a Fred Weasley Story, 23

The time soon came for that oh-so-important family and friends social gathering that your parents have planned for months now, even though you never cared for them, at all. But, by some unnecessary reasoning, your parents persuaded you to come, despite you already having plans with the Weasley's.

Reluctantly, you slipped up the smooth zip to your silky apricot orange dress. Not many people could pull off this colour, but a little smug smile patrolled your mind, happy that you were one of the few to pull it off, making you more unique whenever there was a gathering. The dress happily sat just above your knees and was sleeveless, emphasising your feminine curves that you were thankful you gained during puberty, hoping to grow out of your boyish ways some day. Careful not to pinch your skin, the zip was dropped from your fingertips as it securely rested in place.

Your hair was flopped over one shoulder in a sea of waves, the other side held with small pale dusty pink rose clips, three in total, your ears held a matching set of studs. The silver shoes you wore were your Yule Ball shoes. They worked so well with your dress that you couldn't choose any other pair over them. Plus, you wanted to see if Fred noticed, counting the time that goes by before teasing him for not noticing. A small amused smile spread across your pale skin, your hand carefully gliding a soft light pink layer of gloss over your lips, nothing heavy of course but nice enough to give them a pearl shine. Your eyelashes were curved with a small amount of mascara and your eyes dusted with a soft brown, bringing out the colour of your eyes.

"I think I am ready," You said to yourself as you nodded, your head tilting to one side a little as you examined yourself in the full-body mirror.

A slim silver chain linked through your engagement ring, resting on your chest. You did want to wear it, really you did, but both you and Fred agreed that it would be best to not wear it for the time you spend here, in case anyone freaked out about it or made assumptions. Your once happy smile faded a little sadly as your eyes drifted over the sparkling ring. Just then, the once clear jewel began to change colour in front of your eyes slowly. It glistened beautifully. The colour had turned to a pale peach. You figured that this was due to you wearing both pale apricot and pink colours, causing the ring to mix the two together. The sad smile was wiped away instantly, replaced with a far brighter one.

"You're so clever, Fred." you sighed to yourself, your fingertips edged lightly around the silver. "I just wish that you would admit it." Fred and George knew that they weren't the smartest of wizards at Hogwarts, but they were so clever in their own ways. Boy, did the Slytherins have a field day when they found out about the school drop-outs. They teased them about their family name more and mocked their intelligence, calling them stupid and undeserving of magic.

But once they started their own business, it thrived so much in such a short amount of time. It was amazing. You were so proud of them both.

Your thoughts were soon interrupted by a few knocks on your door. Quickly, without falling over your heels, your hand grasped the handle and swung the door open, smiling greatly at the face looking back at you.

"Heya love," Fred greeted in his normal cheeky way. Fred wore a dashing black tux, white shirt and also his Yule Ball shoes. Your eyes blinked hard and heavily at the sight in front of you. It was strange seeing him dressed like this. But, a good strange. The sight captivated and had drawn you away from words. Seeing Fred dressed smartly was always a weird amusing sight, one which you will see again on your wedding day. This send butterflies straight from your heart down to your stomach. You wished that day would come sooner...

"You look beautiful," Fred muttered in awe, his cheeky grin remaining on his freckly cheeks. His eyes darted down to the ground swiftly, but then quickly returned back to yours. "Snap!"

"Um...what?" You chuckled, your eyebrow rising in amused confusion at his random outburst.

"Your shoes," he explained. "those are the ones you wore to the Yule Ball." Fred lifted one of his large feet into the air and pointed a finger back down to them, his childish grin dazzled his features. "Snap."

"Snap..." You repeated in whisper, smiling contently up at the now 'official' adult. Although he never acted like one.

Fred dropped his foot back to the ground and shrugged his shoulders freely. Quickly, he kissed your cheek softly, almost shyly too, as if this was a repeat of the night you shared together at the Yule Ball. He shrugged his shoulders sheepishly, his smile crooked as he spoke.

"You realise that mum is planning our wedding without us there..." Your mind pondered for a brief second and without a second longer you nodded, returning the smile.

"Yeah, I figured that would happen. Especially with Ginny there too."

The two of you laughed as you made your way downstairs, the gentle echoes bouncing off the walls. By the time you approached the larger gathering in the huge living room, bustling voices being thrown into the air over each other voice sounding.

Not long after conquering the last few steps, a snooty looking couple who looked a couple years older than the two of you began to approach.

"Fiona," Sneered the girl in a posh nasal voice. Her hair was black and straight that curtained most of her back with the long locks, her face and nose were pointed, her dark eyes were almost black in colour. Her date that accompanied her also had pointed sneered features, his hair was copper coloured and brushed over to one side, his eyes judging Fred that stood his ground beside you. "How good to see you once more." Fred's eyebrows dipped a little in frown.

'_Once?' _Fred questioned mentally, confused.

"Indeed," Agreed the taller man beside her. "What house were you planted in?"

"Well, mother did mention this to your mother, but I am a Gryffindor." You replied, trying not to grit your teeth as you could tell that they were mentally judging Fred thoroughly. The man blinked, as he sneered again nasally.

"Oh," he began. "I thought you'd follow your mother. Or your father."

"What houses were they?" Fred asked curiously, genuinely interested as he looked down at you.

"Mother was a Ravenclaw and father was a Slytherin."

"Shame really," sighed the nasal girl. "Oh well, I suppose that it is better than being a useless Hufflepuff."

"Ha! Indeed, my dear!" He bellowed a loud snobbish laugh. "The leftovers of the houses!"

"Worthless bunch, those lot. I don't even know why they were allowed into the school, there isn't anything special about a Hufflepuff!" She cackled in response.

You swore continuously in your mind at them. How dare they! Hufflepuff's are just as special as every other house and deserve to be there too!

"And what you?" You snapped back into reality and realised the snobbish man now spoke to Fred, his eyes stabbing through Fred's. "What house are you in?"

Fred paused, hesitated. He thought quick on his feet and thought it was best not to mention that he is a Hogwarts drop-out.

"Gryffindor, too."

"Oh," they both sneered again, this really started to annoy you. "Figured."

The night seemed to drag on longer than you thought and most of the people here really got on your nerves and grind your gears, you desperately tried not to shut them up with a spell that literally zips their lips together.

"No," Fred whispered softly in your ear, the warmth of his breath causing you to jump a little. Your eyes turned to meet his brown ones investigating yours, you grinned.

"What?"

"I know what you are thinking, I think I am a bad influence on you." You shrugged innocently.

"I have no idea what you are talking about, my dear Fred."

"You want to use the zip joke spell." He whispered, his lips curling mischievously. You snorted a little and tried to stifle it by digging your teeth into your lip. "Thought so."

Fred began to lean down to kiss you when suddenly, dark swarms of liquid shadows burst through the windows, shattering them as they forced their way through the barriers that blocked their way. Screams flooded the air as more and more of these liquid shadows swarmed into the room.

You could feel yourself being dragged by the hand by Fred to attempt to take cover, but you both were dragged to the ground forcefully, hiding behind one of the large leather armchairs.

"Sorry," your mother whispered, loud enough for you both to hear.

"Mother! What's going on-"

"Shh! No time to dawdle now." Screams continued to swarm around the room as well as thundering footsteps trying to run away from the bolts of light targeting them. "Death Eaters...have come."

"Wh-"

"Your father and I refused to join You-Know-Who as well as many others here tonight and it seems that he wasn't too pleased with our answer." She joked dryly with a half-hearted smile. Quickly, she kissed your forehead and stroked your cheek. You knew what was going to happen but prayed that it wouldn't. Tears began to form in your eyes and tears brimmed your mother's eyes too, her voice wobbling a little between words.

"Fred, take care of my daughter won't you?" Fred nodded instantly, his voice quiet.

"Of course I will." She smiled towards him.

"You would have been an amazing son-in-law." Both of your eyes widened as you and Fred glanced at each other briefly, stunned.

"H-how did you know?"

"Fiona, I may be blind sometimes as to what is happening in front of me, but I am not stupid." Her voice crackled as she smiled warmly to the two of you. She rested one hand on Fred's shoulder and one on yours gently, smiling once more before she leapt out from behind the chair, hoping that she could give enough time for you to escape with Fred safely.


	24. Fireworks - a Fred Weasley Story, 24

Tears flooded the lids of your eyes, staining your cheeks as your eyes were red and stung harshly. You assumed the worst...

"Fiona!" Mrs Weasley called suddenly, rushing over at the surprising appearance of you and Fred. The weight of your body was strained upon your knees, causing them to wobble as you walked. Luckily, Fred and Mrs Weasley helped you down to settle on an armchair. "My dear, what happened?!"

No words sounded from your mouth as your cry overpowered your control. Everyone in the burrow had began to gather in worry, George and Ginny pushing in front.

"What happened? What's wrong?" Ginny demanded, her eyes filled with worry. Fred sighed heavily, knowing that you weren't able to speak due to shock, despair and heartbreak.

"We were attacked-"

"Attacked?!" Most of the Weasley's said in synchronisation. Fred simply nodded.

"Yes. By Death Eaters." They all gasped.

"Death Eaters?" Harry asked worriedly; he was staying also, seeing as Mrs Weasley hated the idea of Harry suffering from unfair treatment at his 'home'. Fred nodded, again.

"Her mother said something about You-Know-Who trying to recruit witches and wizards to join him and his army. They refused... causing them to be targeted, and..." Fred paused, looking down at you. Your cry had settled down to you slowly breathing, staring at the ground with more tears. He didn't have to say the rest, that and he didn't want to, it was enough for the others to understand.

Harry couldn't look at you in the eye for guilt had washed over him, feeling like this was his fault. Quickly, your eyes had contact with his and you barely shook your head, a weak smile forming to show that despite his thoughts, that it wasn't his fault.

"Oh...Fiona," Mrs Weasley whispered, wrapping her motherly arms around you and hugging you like you were one of her own. "You can live with us, my dear."

You quickly looked up at her, eyes concerned a little. She chuckled as she seemed to have read your mind.

"No, you're not a burden. You are part of this family and have been since Ginny first brought you here." Her words were soft and kind as she smiled warmly towards you. You sniffed lightly and your voice was barely audible, sore from your crying.

"Thank you..."

Later on that evening you had washed and changed into your cosy purple and white polka dot pyjamas, the long sleeves and trousers kept you warm, as did the fire that crackled in front of you. The flames danced carefree and happily, as if attempting to cheer you up. Despite its efforts, it didn't work much at all. Your knees were tucked under chin and your arms were bound across your legs, hugging them sadly.

"I don't know what to do, George..." Fred said quietly. The two tall brothers stood in the kitchen, George leaning up against the sink with a mug of tea, quietly keeping an eye on you to make sure that you were ok. "I feel useless."

"I doubt that, Freddy." George muffled into the mug, swallowing some tea before returning to speak again. "You did the best thing you could, you brought her back safely here and protected her."

"But-"

"No buts." George interrupted. "You couldn't have prevented what happened, but you did what you could to stop them getting to her. Mum is proud of you." Fred smiled half-heartedly as George took another glug of his tea. His sad gaze fell upon you staring into the fire, the golden glow reflecting off of your skin. Again, he smiled sadly, weakly. George elbowed his brother's arm, bashing a massive hint towards him as he gave him the famous cheeky twin grin. "Go on. If there is anyone to make her the slightest bit less sad, it's you."

Fred exhaled a long sigh and picked up his large feet, slowly making his way towards you. A shadow gradually covered you like a blanket, but you didn't look up to see who it was. Your body and mind felt too depressed.

"Hey..." Fred greeted carefully, not wanting to come across full-on.

You said nothing.

"Is it ok if I join you?"

You said nothing.

Fred sighed again and sat down next to you anyway, not wanting to leave you on your own for any longer. The warmth from his body rose awareness of his presence, but you still remained the same, staring blankly into the fire. Long minutes dragged on by in silence, the only occasional sound coming from the crackly fire.

"Fi-Fi," Fred breathed, finally deciding to speak up. "I'm... I'm sorry about what happened."

Suddenly, your body snapped back into function as your arms swung around Fred, hugging him tightly, afraid. Your eyes began to sting again, but no tears fell. Your eyes had been reduced from any more. Fred jumped a little from this sudden movement but did not retract. He too wrapped his longer arms around you, determined to make you feel a little better.

Your arms loosened their grip a little as you settled, calmed by the warmth from Fred, calmed by his presence. For a short while, the thought of your parent's deaths escaped your mind briefly, clearing your thoughts from this torment.

Gently with his thumb, Fred stroked the back of your arm soothingly, holding you silently, not pushing you to speak. However, this content scene was ruined by the thoughts again. Your eyes were pricked by that familiar sting once again. It didn't feel real that your parents had died.

Killed...

Murdered.

Your arms began to tighten around Fred's waist a little as you buried your cheek into his side, seeking comfort. Fred wanted to speak, say something. But he didn't want to push you. Instead, he brushed the fleeing strands of your hair away from tickling your nose, curling them behind your ear.

"F-Fred..?" You croaked a little, your throat still slightly sore.

"Yes?" He answered, looking down at you as your eyes travelled up a small distance to meet his. What you asked next, he did not expect.

"What if something happens to you too?" You could feel your words wobble slightly. Desperately, you tried to hold them back, as well as the tears.

Fred paused, uncertain about what you meant.

"What do you mean?"

"W-well... What if you died too? I wouldn't be able to go on if you were taken away from me too-" You were silenced by Fred gently kissing your lips, breaking the kiss once you had rid of your tension. He smiled reassuringly.

"I wouldn't ever leave you."

However, inside of his mind was the small sense of guilt. Of course he would never leave you. But you did have a point. What if he died? What if something happened soon. No one can predict what Voldermort has planned.

But this was something that he knew you had to hear to settle you down.

But the thought lingered inside of his mind...

...what if something did happen?

What then?


	25. Fireworks - a Fred Weasley Story, 25

"Has she improved at all?" Ginny asked Fred sincerely. The two of them were sat in the living room together, George snoring quietly in an armchair, his long legs flopped over one of the arms. Fred shook his head weakly, sighing heavily into his palm that carried his chin.

"No..." He muttered sadly. "I know it hasn't been long since- well...they died...but-"

"I know what you mean," Ginny interrupted unintentionally. "It's been over two months. I'm worried about her. Of course we don't expect her to be fine just like that, but she shouldn't be like this... It's worrying. And mum keeps blaming herself for not being able to make her feel better."

"I know the feeling." Fred said a little sarcastically. Fred sighed heavily again.

"Then marry her." George suddenly spoke out, his eyes still remaining closed. Fred and Ginny blinked, startled a little by his voice.

"I am going to marry her you twit." Fred half smiled. George returned the smile but more brightly, his eyes opened lazily and reluctantly.

"No, not going to. Do it."

"What, now?" Fred puzzled.

"No, you twit." George returned the words, grinning. "Plan it, make it, marry her." Ginny's eyes brightened also.

"Oh, that would be lovely!" She beamed. "I'm sure she'll get excited by that."

"I'm not sure..." Fred mumbled, humming his thoughts. Ginny jumped up from her seat and nudged Fred with her foot, kicking him in the sibling way.

"Get up your lazy butt and go ask her!"

"B-but!" Fred attempted to protest but Ginny was having none of it.

"No buts! Go do it. Now. Now. Now. Now." She nudged him every time she repeated that word, deliberately trying to annoy him to go do it.

"ALRIGHT! ALRIGHT!" Fred shouted a little too loudly. He flared his arms up into the air, holding them up in defence as he emerged from his comfy seat. Strangely, he had an etching of nerves drawn all over his face, as if he was going to ask you to marry him all over again.

Fred had an inkling of your whereabouts as you often went there when you were feeling sad or if you needed to think. His feet leaped over the stairs that twirled up the several floors of the burrow. The stomp, stomp, stomping of his feet were rattling the stairs a little, causing Mrs Weasley to yell up from the bottom of the staircase telling him to stop being such an elephant.

His path was soon stopped by the sight of you sat on the window seat, looking out into the distance beyond the glass shield. Fred smiled to himself and hopped over to take a perch opposite you. His fingers gently held the edge of your chin and he turned your focus onto him, kissing you cautiously in case you didn't want his company. To his slight surprise, you didn't push him away, instead returning the kiss.

A smile crept onto your face as his lips parted from yours, as did his.

"Haven't done that in a while," Fred spoke warmly, smiling far happier than he did earlier. A small silence fell between the two of you before he decided to speak up, taking a small breath. "Fiona? I want us to get married."

"But we are going to be, silly." You giggled lightly, smiling as you held up your left hand. He returned the smile and took that hand into his.

"No I mean, now. Well, not now...but...maybe soon? O-or whenever you want...I guess."

You cut him off by quickly kissing him, smiling more brightly than you have done for a long time.

"...when shall we name the date?"

Fred beamed his famous cheeky grin, his cheeks suddenly burning a bright fiery red.

"I honestly don't mind! Whatever you want to do, I will be happy to go along with. Seriously, Fiona, as long as you are happy then that is good enough for me."

"Finally!" Ginny yelled from down the staircase, her voice echoed by George's.

Ginny's feet thumped along every stair one by one until she reached the two of you, her hand grabbing onto yours and pulling you off of your position, dragging you along with her back down the stairs.

"Borrowing her!"

"Um...ok?" Fred muttered, bewildered and amused at the same time. The smile he had before with you remained on his freckled face for a while, finally happier that you have chirped up.

Ginny had dragged you to go speak to Mrs Weasley, the three of you instantly talking about wedding themes, colours, flowers, food, anything and everything to do with the perfect wedding.

Your smile was painted across your face and your mind began its countdown to the best day of your life.


	26. Fireworks - a Fred Weasley Story, 26

"What about pink? That's a popular colour!" Ginny began, her voice excited. "Or orange? Or blue? That would fit into the 'something blue' issue..."

"Ginny, I'm trying to revise." Your head was slanted against the palm of your hand, cupping it as your eyes attempted to browse through the large textbook, taking in notes. It was early evening at Hogwarts and most of the Gryffindors were huddled in the common room, chatting away amongst themselves whilst others tried to catch some quick revision time.

"Just try to ignore her." Hermione whispered. She also was sat beside you with her nose in a large book, happily reading through every page.

"I think everyone is trying to." Ron moaned, his head leaning back on the edge of the sofa, eyes closed.

"Shh, Ron," Ginny scowled at her brother.

"You are going on and on so much though! You'll put Fiona off marrying Fred at this rate." Ron mumbled. Harry tried not to laugh at Ron's response and flipped his attention back to his potions book, trying to revise, but keeps getting distracted.

It seemed less lively to you now since the twins have left. It was now your sixth year at Hogwarts and things weren't getting easier. Obviously.

Thinking about it saddened you a little but you had to think positive. They've finally achieved their dream! The shop is a great hit in Diagon Alley. Which is amazing, considering what's been happening lately. Because of this, you haven't seen Fred or George in months...so the wedding had to wait a little. Which Ginny wasn't too happy about.

"But they keep putting it off!"

"Look Ginny, it's been put on hold because of what's been happening with the Death Eaters and muggles, that and I don't have time for anything with all this pressure from Snape and other teachers who keep saying 'there is so much potential, have some extra work for a better profile' which is stressing me about because I can't say no and anything extra on top of that is too much so for once please just stop going on!" You slammed your book shut loudly, your voice raised and irritated. People around you were stunned at your outburst. You never acted this way.

You decided to go early to dinner without the others. You had to have some alone time right now...

Quite a few other students had arrived to the great hall by the time you got there, at least half of them. And Malfoy was here too, just your luck. Luckily though he didn't instantly come over and mock you for being involved with the Weasley's.

You sat down with a heavy sigh, pouring some pumpkin juice into the silver goblet. Seamus, Dean and Neville were sat not too far away, but they decided it was best to leave you alone. They did give you a smile when you sat down to be polite which you returned weakly.

The tips of your fork poked around the food on your plate, hardly anything eaten. You felt so alone without Fred here to crack a joke or annoy you until you give in to either forgiving him for some prank he did or just for the fun of annoying you because he knew you couldn't stay mad at him for long. The thought of the memories that passed through your mind created a curl at the corner of your lips. But it soon disappeared. You felt bad for yelling at Ginny. You didn't mean to... But all this pressure from some of the teachers was too much. Your Ravenclaw friends waved at you as they sat down at your table and you tried your best to put on a warm smile in reply. As real as it looked, it was a fraud.

"Alright, Fiona?" That snobbish voice that most people hated spoke behind you, their shadow lightly covering your own.

"What do you want Malfoy?" You exhaled irritably, not having the patience for his wise-cracks today. He smirked smugly, shrugging his shoulders.

"Just coming over to say hello is all." He then cautiously checked over his shoulder, his voice lowering into a whisper. "Also, I'm sorry to hear about what happened to your parents." Carefully, his hand lightly rested upon the back of your neck, the slight cold causing you to tense a little before relaxing again. Another heavy sigh escaped through your lips as you looked up at the teenager. For once, he looked genuine.

"Thank you."

"Best go. Don't want Potter seeing me being 'nice' to one of his friends." Malfoy smirked again before he turned on his heal, making his way back to the Slytherin table to re-join Crabbe and Goyle who were scoffing food down their throats. They seriously need to learn to chew their food.

Malfoy wasn't such a bad guy. Well, he was horrible to most people, but as you just saw, he can be genuinely nice when he chooses and wants to be. Your appetite returned slightly and you happily began to nibble on your food. The gravy that you had basically drowned your vegetables in was warm and delicious as it warmed your throat, the roast beef had changed to your meat preference and it was succulent and perfect. Your eyes admired the desserts that quietly sat amongst the dinner food. You could smell the alluring chocolate scent of the profiteroles and the sweetness of the rhubarb and custard crumble.

"Fiona?" A quiet voice spoke. Your eyes turned to the person who sat down next to you, their eyes apologetic. "I'm sorry about earlier, I didn't mean to be pushy. I just...don't really know what else to do with everything that has been going on." You smiled at your best friend and elbowed her gently in a playful way.

"Ginny, it's ok. I overreacted a little anyway." She returned almost an identical smile to the one that you gave her, looking like a huge weight had been lifted off of her shoulders. "And I have already chosen a colour for the wedding." Her eyes glistened with sudden excitement and curiosity.

"What colour?" She almost demanded, her voice in giggles.

"Purple."

"Purple? Any reason?" She asked curiously. You nodded, smiling to yourself contently.

"It was the colour I wore to the Yule Ball with Fred."


End file.
